How often do we get up in the morning and go into the bathroom or kitchen and turn on a water tap? How often do we think to be grateful for the stream of clear, fresh water flowing right into our house? For many people in the world, and certainly through history, it would be a major miracle.
According to Water.org, 884 million people, or one in every eight, lack access to safe water supplies. More people die each year from water-related diseases than in wars. During a five-minute shower, we can use more water than a slum dweller in a developing country uses all day.
Ancient Rome
Cities need a healthy water supply, so most of the world’s cities are located on or near rivers. Rome, for instance, is on the River Tiber. According to Frontius, “for 441 years . . ., the Romans were satisfied with the use of such waters as they drew from the Tiber, from wells, and from springs.” However, Rome, like many other cities, eventually outgrew their supply and began searching for water further afield.
In 312 B.C., Appius Claudius Caecus was elected to serve a joint term as censor with Gaius Plautus, supervising and maintaining public works. Claudius would build a road, and Plautus, find a new source of water.
To avoid corruption, the term of censor had been reduced from five years to 18 months, too short a time for much to be accomplished. At the end of that term, Plautus resigned. Claudius had completed his road, called in his honor the Appian Way, as far as Capua. He then stayed on to finish Plautus’ acqueduct.
Plautus had found some springs about ten miles east of Rome. Claudius built a system, mostly underground, for water to flow into the city to meet the needs of its growing population, becoming “the man who brought water to Rome.”
Thanks to Claudius, “The ancient Romans had better water quality than half the people alive now.”
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