Today’s Fact: Rome still uses an aqueduct built during antiquity

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Original photo by kavram/ iStock Rome still uses an aqueduct built during the Roman Empire. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" is a motto that works well for Rome. Because of the incredibly advanced craftsmanship of ancient Rome's architects, as well as their remarkably long-lasting building materials (more on that below), many of the ancient empire's most marvelous construction projects can still be seen by millions of tourists today — some 6 million people visit the Colosseum each year alone. However, the most amazing engineering achievement might be Rome's eye-catching aqueducts, one of which still supplies Rome with water millennia after it was built.  While the Romans didn't invent the aqueduct — primitive irrigation systems can be found in Egyptian, Assyrian, and Babylonian history — Roman architects perfected the idea. In 312 BCE, the famed Roman leader Appius Claudius Caecus erected the first aqueduct, the Aqua Appia, which brought water to the growing population of the Roman Republic. Today, the Acqua Vergine — first built during the reign of Emperor Augustus in 19 BCE as the Aqua Virgo — still supplies Rome with water more than 2,000 years after its construction (though it's been through several restorations).  The main reason for the aqueduct's longevity, along with that of many of Rome's ancient buildings, is its near-miraculous recipe for concrete. An analysis by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology discovered that Roman concrete could essentially self-heal due to its lime clasts (small mineral chunks) and a process known as "hot mixing" (mixing in the lime at extremely high temperatures). Today, researchers are studying how the material functioned in the hopes of applying secrets from the "Eternal City" to today's building materials. Rome has more water fountains than any other city in the world. Rome has more water fountains than any other city in the world.

The famous __ fountain is one of the end points of the Acqua Vergine aqueduct. The famous __ fountain is one of the end points of the Acqua Vergine aqueduct. Numbers Don't Lie Number of aqueducts built to supply ancient Rome with water 11 Year Appius Claudius Caecus (builder of Rome's first aqueduct) built the Appian Way, the first Roman road 312 BCE Daily yield (in gallons) of the California aqueduct system, the largest such system in the world 650 million Diameter (in feet) of the dome of the Pantheon, the oldest building in the world still in use 142 New York's Croton Aqueduct, built in 1842, was based on ancient Roman engineering. The fall of Rome in the fifth century coincided with a decline in sanitary conditions in many of the world's cities. By the 18th and 19th centuries, disease ran rampant due to poor sanitation and water management. One of the first aqueducts in the U.S. was the Croton Aqueduct, designed by engineer John B. Jervis, which provided fresh water for the growing metropolis of New York City. Although ancient Rome's last aqueduct had been built some 1,600 years prior, Jervis based his design on these impressive examples of engineering, and the aqueduct similarly used simple gravity to carry water 41 miles from the Croton River to reservoirs in Manhattan. Upon its completion in 1842, the aqueduct drastically improved health and hygiene in New York City and continued providing the booming metropolis with fresh water until it was decommissioned in 1955.  You might also like 6 Bizarre Facts About Everyday Household Objects Some of the items found in our homes have unusual origins, and we're not just talking about those hot dogs buried in the freezer.

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