The History of Ancient Plumbing

The Roman Empire saw numerous advances in engineering. One of the most fascinating was the development of aqueducts. Aqueducts were part of systems for supplying water to the major cities of the Roman world.

Aqueducts used gravity to transport water from springs and lakes down to cities in lower altitudes. While we often think of the beautiful arched aqueducts that remain, they were only a small portion of the aqueduct system. These systems were primarily made from underground tunnels. It is estimated that there were 220 miles of aqueducts built in this time, but only about 30 miles were actually exposed waterways.

Aqueducts were sophisticated structures. They were built with a very low pitch, falling only 34 cm per km. In areas where the grade needed to be altered, inverted siphons were used to force water uphill. Sedimentation tanks slowed the water to allow sediment to settle out. The large open archways saved on building materials and allowed passage to people and animals.

Aqueducts carried large amounts of water. The water delivered to Rome amounted to about 300 million gallons per day. There were public fountains and basins conveniently located about the city, and the amount of water necessary to operate the public baths was quite large.

As the Roman Empire declined, maintenance of the aqueduct system declined. Enemies cut some of the lines, and many others fell into disrepair. The water supply in Rome would not reach the same standards again until the late 19th century.

The pipes used for plumbing have changed dramatically over time, and certainly for the better. Advances in materials and standards have contributed to the cleaner water systems we enjoy today in the United States.

In Roman times, water was delivered through a system of pipes and passageways cut from rock, made of fired ceramics, or made of lead. Lead, while being very toxic, was still in use until the late 1800's.

Early American settlers used the natural resource most abundant at that time - wood. Logs were generally cut in 7-9 ft lengths, and the centers bored out to allow for the passage of water. Sometimes logs were split in half, the centers cut open, and then put back together with a series of iron straps. On each log, one end was tapered, and the other end opened so they would fit together. The seams between logs were sealed with pitch or hot animal fat. While it did transport the water, there were problems with bugs, rotting logs, and the dreadful taste the wood imparted to the water. Nevertheless, wooden pipe systems were common in Boston and Montreal in the 1800's.

Galvanized iron or steel water pipes began to replace old lead pipes toward the end of the 1800's. In 1804, Philadelphia became the first city to adopt cast iron pipes for its water mains. These were put together with threaded fittings. Much higher in durability and much safer than lead, they also were very heavy. They also have a tendency to become blocked from mineral buildup on the inside of the pipe. They are still commonly used in commercial buildings, and are the most common pipe for fire sprinkler systems.

Copper piping was introduced in the early 1900's, but did not become widely used until the 1950's. Copper tubing commonly comes as Type K, Type L, or Type M tubing. The type refers to the wall thickness of the tubes, with Type M having the thinnest walls and Type K having the thickest walls. Plumbers use the ID [inside diameter] to specify the size. The outside diameter of a pipe is actually about 1/8" larger than the inside diameter, so that a pipe that is 1/2" is therefore called 3/8". The actual difference between the three types amounts to a difference of a few hundredths of an inch. Pipes also come in two tempers. Drawn temper is very rigid, and annealed temper is soft and bendable. Copper pipe is joined with soldered fittings.

Plastics are now the most widely used pipes for water and sewer in the US. Different plastics are used for different purposes. Some common plastics include PVC [polyvinyl chloride], CPVC [chlorinated polyvinyl chloride], PP [polypropylene], PB [polybutylene], and PE [polyethylene]. Building codes specify which types can be used in which applications.

The Romans were not the only people in the ancient world to have excellent plumbing by the standards of the day. King Minos of Crete has a primitive flushing water closet in 1700 BC. The kings of Crete were well known for their extravagant baths with hot and cold running water.

Some of the best preserved evidence of ancient plumbing, however, was found in the excavations of Pompeii and Herculaneum. In 79 AD, a volcano known as Mount Vesuvius experienced a massive eruption, burying the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum under a thick layer of lava and ash. It remained undisturbed until excavations began in 1758 AD.

Pompeii was a wealthy city. Aqueducts supplied water to the city. Private homes were frequently plumbed for running water, which flowed continuously. Payment was calculated by the size of the nozzle the homeowner used.

Baths were similar to swimming pools, filling up the entire floor of a room. Steps led down into the bath, and the walls were extravagantly decorated with marble, mosaics, and frescoes.

Public baths in the Roman world were often huge complexes. Dressing rooms, and separate rooms for cold, tepid and hot baths were common. There were steam rooms, with heating from furnaces below which circulated hot air through hollow tiles in the walls and floors.

In the beginning, mixed bathing was prohibited, with men and women having certain set hours for bathing. Both men and women bathed in the nude. Later, mixed bathing was permitted, again in the nude. As the Roman Empire declined, bath houses turned into places for orgies.

Jerusalem sits atop a ridge of hills at 2500 feet above sea level. Sitting up on a hill gave it the advantage over others who would have to attack it from below, but when it came to supplying the city with water, it was not much of an advantage.

On the eastern end of the city, the Gihon Spring was the city's main source of water. During the reign of King Hezekiah [715 BC - 687 BC], a tunnel was built from the spring outside the city to the Pool of Siloam inside the city.

The tunnel was built by two teams of workers who started at each end and worked toward each other. The tunnel was cut through 765 feet of solid rock, which workers chipped away little bits at a time. The resulting tunnel was about 3 feet wide and 3-9 feet high.

King Hezekiah's tunnel helped the city of Jerusalem to withstand a siege by the Assyrians.

The city of Jerusalem also used underground cisterns. Rain water was diverted to cisterns where it could be held until it was needed. The underground cisterns built by Herod in Masada supplied the Jews with water during the three year siege of the city by the Romans.

Sanitation and ritual cleansing were important to the people of Israel. Washing and purification were part of the Law as handed down by God to Moses. Around Jerusalem, and the temple specifically, were pools that provided for these very important needs.

Refuse of all sorts was removed from the city of Jerusalem through a small gate called the Dung Gate, located on the southeast portion of the city. The gate was a small passage through which individuals passed, although it was enlarged in 1952 to allow busses to pass through.

Plumbing was almost nonexistent in the Middle Ages. When Rome was overturned, its aqueducts were cut or fell into such disrepair that they were of no value. Without a running water supply, people had to once again carry all the water they needed from natural sources.

Carrying water was a serious chore. Water became too precious to use for anything but drinking and cooking. Bathing was uncommon, and was usually accomplished by taking a swim in a lake or pond, but that was a rarity.

Organized sewage disposal was not to be found. Most peasant families lived in small, one room hovels with dirt floors and thatched roofs. If they were lucky, they had a chamber pot into which to relieve themselves, but more likely they went outside the hut or simply relieved themselves in a corner inside. The contents of chamber pots, kitchen scraps, and all manner of garbage was simply thrown outside or into the streets.

Castles had small rooms called garderobes which acted as a primitive bathroom. A wooden seat provided with a hole gave people the opportunity to sit. The resulting waste fell through a vertical shaft to empty directly into the moat below, or into a barrel or pit if no moat existed.

These conditions led to all kinds of opportunities for disease and death. Cholera, dysentery, and typhoid fever were the common result of sewage contaminated water and poor hygiene. Dysentery and other epidemics contributed to the failure of the Crusades. Typhus, spread by human body lice, was common. Typhus claimed thousands of Napoleon's troops. Bubonic plague, spread by the lice of black rats that fed on the garbage and sewer, killed one third of the population of Europe.

As populations grew and cities became larger and more densely populated, so grew the problems of water supply and sewage disposal. Rivers and lakes would soon become so heavily polluted that the waters were unusable for human consumption.

In 1850's London, the population had blossomed to nearly 3 million people. All sewers in the city dumped directly into the Thames River. During an unusually hot spell in the summer of 1859, the stench of the Thames was so bad that Parliament had to be suspended.

Tenements sprang up around the city, supplying workers for factories. These tenements, however, had no sewage systems or running water. Water was available at pumps around the city, which only operated during limited hours of certain days, and water had to be hauled in pots or jugs.

Tenement buildings were often several stories high. Many had no windows at all because landlords were taxed for windows. Some had latrines on the ground floor, but in most cases waste was collected in chamber pots of some sort inside the apartments, and then dumped out doors or windows onto the street.

In 1848, England passed the Public Health Act, which ultimately paved the way for public water and sewage systems for all homes and public buildings. The British government also made available funds for research and engineering of these facilities.

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