The Aqua Claudia Interruption‪.‬

It is generally agreed that the city of ancient Rome had eleven major aqueducts, all built in a five-century period, and possibly a few minor aqueducts, probably between eight and twelve in number (see Appendix for a list of the eleven aqueducts). The first major aqueduct was built in 312 BC and the last around AD 226. Some of the aqueducts outlasted the Empire and remained in use well into the Middle Ages. Some parts of the Roman water system are still in use today. The estimated total length of the major aqueducts is between 448 and 502 kilometres. Approximately 80% of the total length of the aqueducts ran underground. The rest was carried in channels; only a small percentage used the magnificent bridges and viaducts that are usually associated with the aqueducts. The shortest aqueduct, the Appia, was only 16 kilometres long and the longest, the Marcia, was 91 kilometres long. Hodge (2002:347) gives an estimated total output of 1 127 220 cubic metres of water per day in total. One can deduce then, that when the population may have been well over a million, the distribution system would have been able to provide more than one cubic metre of water per day for each inhabitant of the city of Rome. By comparison, New York City consumes 5,55 million cubic metres of water per day for six million inhabitants (not including commuters who work in, but do not live in the city) (Elert 2004). According to the Rand Water Board (2007:5), they supply 3,55 million cubic metres of water to 11 million people in Gauteng daily. Thus, both New York and Gauteng supply less than 1 cubic metre of water per person per day. The Roman water supply exceeded this quite comfortably.