hidden pixel

Aqueduct Information

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 water—instead of a path, road or railway—across 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 end. The word is derived from the Latin aqua ("water") and ducere ("to lead").

Contents

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 Egyptians and 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, which included a 10 m high section to cross a 300 m wide valley, to carry water to their capital city, Nineveh.[2]

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.[3] 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

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

Persia

Main article: Qanat

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

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. 540–552, in response to drought periods in the region.[4] When European explorers arrived in the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán 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

Roman aqueducts

See also: List of aqueducts in the Roman Empire Aqueduct of Segovia Aqueduct Santiago de Queretaro, Mexico

Other aqueducts

An Aqueduct in Vila do Conde, Portugal The Aqueduto dos Pegões in Tomar, Portugal Kavala aqueduct, Greece

Gallery

See also

Water portal

Notes

  1. ^ "aqueduct", Britannica CD 2000
  2. ^ Thorkild Jacobsen and Seton Lloyd, Sennacherib's Aqueduct at Jerwan, Oriental Institute Publication 24, University of Chicago Press, 1935]
  3. ^ A forgotten empire (Vijayanagar): a ... – Google Books
  4. ^ Unix.oit.umass.edu
  5. ^ Mexico – Travel

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Aqueduct

Categories:

 

The above information uses material from Wikipedia and is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Some facts may not have been fully verified for accuracy. [Disclaimers]
This page was last archived by our server on Mon Apr 16 22:50:26 2012.
Displaying this page or its contents does not use any Wikimedia Foundation's resources.
The owners of this site proudly support the Wikimedia Foundation.

More Information Results for "Aqueduct"
[Hide]▼
'Aqueduct' Images
'Aqueduct' Definition

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA: /ˈæk.wəˌdʌkt/, SAMPA: /"{k.w@%dVkt/
  • Audio (US) (file)
Noun aqueduct (plural aqueducts) Aqueduct
  1. An artificial channel that is constructed to convey water from one location to another.
  2. A structure carrying water over a river or depression, especially in regards to ancient aqueducts.

from: Wiktionary: aqueduct,
Fri Sep 30 11:28:40 2011
[Hide]▲