Roman Aqueducts

The Roman aqueducts were built in order to supply Rome with clean water. Rome would use the water provided from the aqueducts for baths, fountains, and drinking water. Over the course of 500 years, from 312 BCE to 226 AD, 11 aqueducts were constructed throughout the city of Rome. Some of the aqueducts provided water to the city from sources over 50km outside the city. These aqueducts not only provided water throughout parts of the Roman Empire, they also directly contributed to Rome’s prosperity and the health of those living in Rome.

During Rome’s peak, there was a population of around 1,000,000 people living within the city. A city of this size would have resulted in the river and other local sources of water being polluted, making the water potentially hazardous to drink. Thanks to the aqueducts, fresh water was continuously flowing into the city, and the wastewater would be flushed through sewers into the river. Without this flow of water in and out of the city, Rome would have had difficulty supporting the population that it had.

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