aqueducts
Ancient water highways
Aqueducts are channels or conduits built to carry water over long distances, typically from a source to a city or agricultural area.
The word often evokes the arched stone structures of ancient Rome, though aqueducts may also run underground or at ground level.
Modern aqueducts supply water to cities like Los Angeles and Phoenix: The California Aqueduct stretches over 400 miles.
Weight-bearing curved spans
- viaductArched span crossing valleys
- spanDistance between endpoints
- columnsUpright structural shafts
- stone masonryBuilding with cut rock
conduit · channel · keystone · vault · buttress · piers · gradient · siphon
Flavian arena in Rome
- ForumNamed public gathering place
- TrajanSecond-century Roman emperor
- HadrianSecond-century Roman emperor
- Tiber RiverWaterway bisecting Rome
Appian Way · Segovia · Claudia · arcades · ruins · ancient · empire · engineering
Constructed water passages
- channelsPaths for transmission
- ditchesNarrow drainage channels
- flumesMan-made water channels
- sluicesGated water conduits
floodgates · levees · diversion · farmland · crops · agriculture · terracing · water rights
Large water storage basin
- cisternWater storage chamber
- springRecoiling metal spiral
- catchmentArea collecting water runoff
- distributionAllocation across recipients
pipes · flow rate · headwaters · intake · storage · delivery · potable water · water pressure
arches
Weight-bearing curved spans
stone masonry · conduit · channel · keystone · vault · buttress · piers · gradient · siphon · arcade
Colosseum
Flavian arena in Rome
- ForumNamed public gathering place
- TrajanSecond-century Roman emperor
- HadrianSecond-century Roman emperor
Tiber River · Appian Way · Segovia · Claudia · arcades · ruins · ancient · empire · engineering · stone
canals
Constructed water passages
sluices · floodgates · levees · diversion · farmland · crops · agriculture · terracing · water rights · allocation
reservoir
Large water storage basin
distribution · pipes · flow rate · headwaters · intake · storage · delivery · potable water · water pressure · main
- cultural heritagefolklore, traditions, customs, folk music revival, museum collections
- Ancient RomeRome, Julius Caesar, Caesar, gladiator, gladiators
- civilizationempires, empire, civilizations, dynasty, kingdoms
- infrastructurehighways, road construction, railway expansion, power grid, roads
- water systemswater pipes, water pipe, water storage, water line, irrigation ditches
- canal thingsPanama Canal, Suez Canal, Erie Canal, Venice canals, canal boats
aqueductsunderground pipes
Buried tubes for utilities
sewers · culverts · water mains · tunnels · wells
aqueductssewers
Underground waste conduits
drainage systems · storm drains · wastewater systems · gutters · drains
- Roman aqueductsAncient elevated water channels
- aqueduct of SylviusMidbrain cerebrospinal fluid passage
- ancient aqueductsOld engineered water channels
- aqueduct systemNetwork moving water overland