Water Distribution, Ancient Roman Style

I had an awesome time visiting the aqueducts yesterday! It was impressive to see the size of the closed channels used to transport water to the city. Even more impressive for me was the understanding of hydraulics and treatment that the Romans had at the time which are still important today (as an Environmental Engineering student, this stuff was exciting). The channels couldn't be built with too steep of a slope otherwise the water would travel too fast and cause erosion. In addition, they used inverted siphons to lift water over ridges or buildings and sedimentation pits to remove large particles from their drinking/bath water. The men also knew that lead pipes could leach the chemical into the water over time which is why they typically aren't used today. We also learned that to compensate for the large amounts of water being brought into the city, a sewage system was designed to carry wastewater out of the city to the Tiber River.