Aqueduct

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about conduits used for water supply. For bridges used by boats, see navigable aqueduct. For other uses, see aqueduct (disambiguation).

Pont du Gard, France, a Roman aqueduct built circa 19 BC. It is one of France's top tourist attractions and a World Heritage Site.

An aqueduct is a water supply or navigable channel constructed to convey water. In modern engineering, the term is used for any system of pipes, ditches, canals, tunnels, and other structures used for this purpose.[1] In a more restricted use, aqueduct (occasionally water bridge) applies to any bridge or viaduct that transports waterinstead of a path, road or railwayacross a gap. Large navigable aqueducts are used as transport links for boats or ships. Aqueducts must span a crossing at the same level as the watercourses on each side. The word is derived from the Latin aqua ("water") and ducere ("to lead").

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1 Ancient aqueducts

o o o o o o o

1.1 India 1.2 Oman 1.3 Persia 1.4 Greece 1.5 Roman 1.6 South America 1.7 Sri Lanka

2 Modern aqueducts 3 Uses 4 Notable aqueducts

o o o

4.1 Ancient Greek aqueducts 4.2 Roman aqueducts 4.3 Other aqueducts

5 Gallery 6 See also 7 Notes 8 References 9 External links

Ancient aqueducts

Nabataean aqueduct in Petra (Jordan)

Mathur Aqueduct, India

Although particularly associated with the Romans, aqueducts were devised much earlier in Greece and the Near East and Indian subcontinent, where peoples such as the Egyptiansand Harappans built sophisticated irrigation systems. Roman-style aqueducts were used as early as the 7th century BCE, when the Assyrians built an 80 km long limestone aqueduct, 10 m high and 300 m wide, to carry water across a valley to their capital city, Nineveh.

India
The Indian subcontinent is believed to have some of the earliest aqueducts. Evidence can be found at the sites of present day Hampi, Karnataka. The massive aqueducts near river Tungabhadra supplying irrigation water were once 15 miles (24 km) long.[2] The waterways supplied water to royal bathhouses.

Oman
Main article: Falaj In Oman from the Iron Age Period (found in Salut, Bat and other sites) a system of underground aqueducts called Falaj were constructed, a series of well-like vertical shafts, connected by gently sloping horizontal tunnels. There are three types of Falaj

Daudi ( ) with underground aqueducts Ghaili ( ) requiring a dam to collect the water Aini ( ) whose source is a water spring

These enabled large scale agriculture to flourish in a dry land environment

Persia
Main article: Qanat

In Persia from early times[vague] a system of underground aqueducts called Qanat were constructed, a series of well-like vertical shafts, connected by gently sloping tunnels. This technique:

taps into subterranean water in a manner that delivers water to the surface without need for pumping. The water drains relying on gravity, with the destination lower than the source, which is typically an upland aquifer.

allows water to be transported long distances in hot dry climates without losing a large proportion of the source water to seepage and evaporation.

Greece
On the island of Samos, the Tunnel of Eupalinos was built during the reign of Polycrates (538-522 BC). It is considered an underground aqueduct and brought fresh water to Pythagoreion for roughly a thousand years.

Roman
Main article: Roman aqueduct Roman aqueducts were built in all parts of the Roman Empire, from Germany to Africa, and especially in the city of Rome, where they totaled over 415 km. The aqueducts supplied water to public baths and for drinking water, in large cities across the empire, and set a standard of engineering that was not surpassed for more than a thousand years.

Ancient Indian aqueduct in Hampi

South America
Near the Peruvian town of Nazca, an ancient pre-Columbian system of aqueducts called Puquios were built and are still in use today. They were made of intricately placed stones, a construction material widely used by the Nazca culture. The time period in which they were constructed is still debated, but some evidence supports

circa A.D. 540552, in response to drought periods in the region.[3] When European explorers arrived in the Aztec capital of Tenochtitln early in the 16th century CE the city was found to be watered by two aqueducts.

Sri Lanka
Extensive usage of elaborate aqueducts have been found to have been used in Ancient Sri Lanka.

Modern aqueducts
In modern times, the largest aqueducts of all have been built in the United States to supply the country's biggest cities. The Catskill Aqueduct carries water to New York City over a distance of 120 miles (190 km), but is dwarfed by aqueducts in the far west of the country, most notably the Colorado River Aqueduct, which supplies the Los Angeles area with water from the Colorado River nearly 400 km to the east and the 701.5 mi (1,129 km) California Aqueduct, which runs from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to Lake Perris. The Central Arizona Project is the largest and most expensive aqueduct constructed in the United States. It stretches 336 miles from its source near Parker, Arizona to the metropolitan areas of Phoenix and Tucson. A modern version of aqueduct is a pipeline bridge.

Uses

Segovia, Spain. Roman aqueduct

Historically, agricultural societies have constructed aqueducts to irrigate crops. Archimedes invented the water screw to raise water for use in irrigation of croplands. Another use for aqueducts is to supply large cities with drinking water. Some of the Roman aqueducts still supply water to Rome today. In California, United States, three large aqueducts supply water over hundreds of miles to the Los Angeles area. Two are from the Owens River area and a third is from the Colorado River.

In more recent times, aqueducts were used for transportation purposes to allow canal barges to cross ravines or valleys. During the Industrial Revolution of the 18th century, aqueducts were constructed as part of the boom in canal-building. In modern civil engineering projects, detailed study and analysis of open channel flow is commonly required to support flood control, irrigation systems, and large water supply systems when an aqueduct rather than a pipeline is the preferred solution. In the past, aqueducts often had channels made of earth or other porous materials but significant amounts of water are lost through such unlined aqueducts. As water gets increasingly scarce, these canals are being lined with concrete, polymers or impermeable soil. In some cases, a new aqueduct is built alongside the old one because it cannot be shut down during construction.

Notable aqueducts

Ancient Greek aqueducts

The Eupalinian aqueduct on the Greek island of Samos.

Roman aqueducts
See also: List of aqueducts in the Roman Empire

Aqueduct of Segovia

Aqueduct Santiago de Queretaro, Mexico

The Pont du Gard in southern France Barbegal aqueduct, France Aqueduto de So Sebastio, in Coimbra, Portugal Eifel aqueduct, Germany Caesarea Maritima, Israel Patras, Greece Aqueduct of Segovia, Spain Acueducto de los Milagros, Mrida, Spain Tarragona, Spain Almucar, Spain (5 aqueducts 4 still in use) Valens Aqueduct, Istanbul, Turkey Aqua Augusta, Italy Aqua Claudia and the Anio Novus, as part of the Porta Maggiore, Rome, Italy Skopje Aqueduct, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia

Other aqueducts

An Aqueduct in Vila do Conde, Portugal

The Aqueduto dos Pegoes in Tomar, Portugal

Wignacourt Aqueduct, Malta. Built in the 16th century to transport water from the old capital city of Malta, Mdina to the new capital city Valletta. Today, only part is visible in the localities of Balzan, Birkirkara and Santa Venera.

Aqueduct St-Clment, Montpellier, France 17th century

Bar Aqueduct, Montenegro - 16th century guas Livres Aqueduct, in Lisbon, Portugal (built 17311748) Aqueduto de bidos, in bidos, Portugal (built 1570) Aqueduto de Setbal in Setbal, Portugal (built 1696) Aqueduto dos Peges in Tomar, Portugal (built 1593) gua de Prata Aqueduct, in vora, Portugal (built 15311537) Santa Clara Aqueduct, in Vila do Conde, Portugal Carioca Aqueduct in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (built 17441750) Aqueduct of Teruel, Spain Roquefavour aqueduct, France built between 1842 and 1847 Winnipeg Aqueduct, Manitoba, Canada built between 1915 and 1919 Canal de l'Aqueduc, Quebec, Canada Pijnne Water Tunnel, a 120-kilometer long underground aqueduct (continuous tunnel) connecting lake Pijnne to Greater Helsinki.

Wan Mat Saman Aqueduct, Kedah, Malaysia built between 1900 and 1909 Mathur Aqueduct in Tamilnadu state, India Pontcysyllte Aqueduct in Wales Surviving Spanish aqueducts in Mexico:

Aqueduct of Quertaro, Mexico built between 1726 and 1738, 1.3 km long and featuring 74 arches. Aqueduct of Morelia, Michoacn, built between 1735 and 1738. Aqueduct of Acmbaro, Guanajuato, built in 1528.[4] Chapultepec aqueduct, Mexico D.F

Kavala aqueduct, 16th-century Ottoman aqueduct in Kavala, Greece Levadas, 1,350 miles (2,170 km) of 17th century aqueducts on the Portuguese island of Madeira. Espada Aqueduct, built 1735, in San Antonio, Texas, United States. Quabbin Aqueduct, 24.6-mile (39.6 km) long tunnel, in Massachusetts, United States. Chicopee Valley Aqueduct, 13.1-mile (21.1 km) long, in Massachusetts, United States. Central Arizona Project Aqueduct California Aqueduct, a 715 mi (1,151 km) combination of canals, pipelines and tunnels, United States. Delaware Aqueduct, in New York State, United States at 85 miles (137 km) long, the world's longest continuous underground tunnel.

High Bridge, part of the former Croton Aqueduct, built in 1848, is the oldest surviving bridge in New York City.

Sooke Flowline located on Vancouver Island, Canada, is a 44 kilometres long, gravity fed concrete pipe which provided water to the City Of Victoria for 55 years.

National Water Carrier of Israel located in Israel, is a 130 km long system of giant pipes, open canals, tunnels, reservoirs and large scale pumping stations to transfer water from the Sea of Galilee in the north of the country to the highly populated center and arid south, built between 1953 and 1964.