Roman aqueduct

The Roman aqueduct is the type of aqueduct built in ancient Rome, that supplied fountains, latrines, public baths, and private households; it also supported farms, gardens, milling, and mining operations.

Rome: remains of the Claudian aqueduct

Quotes

• Although in other cities, the water supply was not as rich as in Rome, in imperial times it was still taken for granted that there were aqueducts almost everywhere. It was usually the municipalities that financed the expensive construction of pipelines; Often, however, there were private individuals who donated large sums of money and allowed their fellow citizens to erect monuments as a thank you for their generosity. The emperor also generally participated by subsidizing or "donating in toto" an aqueduct. (Karl-Wilhelm Weeber)
• As with the street, Roman architecture became the glory of another building of public utility, the aqueduct. At its service he placed one of its characteristic elements: the arch, which at the same time was a slender support, overcame the jumps in the ground and regulated the slope of the course. Together with the sewer and the road, the aqueduct could be considered in antiquity one of the three monuments that manifested Roman power and magnificence. And the aqueducts of Rome, even more than a wonder of the city, could be boasted among the wonders of the world. (Alessandro Della Seta)
• The largest and most famous of the Roman aqueducts, whose arches still cross the countryside from the Alban Hills to Porta Maggiore, were built between 47 and 52 A.D. by Claudius and completed after 54 by Nero. [...].
  Towards the end of the first century, the volume of water distributed in Rome by the official network can be estimated at around 992,000 cubic meters in 24 hours. (Pierre Grimal)
• The total network of Roman aqueducts measured over 500 kilometers and the quantity of drinking water that flowed day after day to Rome amounted to at least 500,000 cubic meters, [...]. Realistically assuming that the population amounted to about 1 million inhabitants, this statistically implied a per capita supply of water of about 500 liters, a value that would only be reached again in the twentieth century, and certainly not everywhere. (Karl-Wilhelm Weeber)