Title: Route and tunnels of the Aqua Augusta for the water supply of Pompeii

Authors: Giovanni De Feo; Wayne F. Lorenz

Addresses: Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Salerno, 84084, via Giovanni Paolo II, 132, Fisciano (Sa), Italy ' Wright Water Engineers, Inc., Wright Paleohydrological Institute, 2490 W. 26th Avenue, Suite 100A, Denver, CO 80211, USA

Abstract: The main aim of this research was studying the water routes and engineering of the aqueducts serving ancient Pompeii, with particular attention to the Aqua Augusta of the Campania region. We performed a study of the topography between the caput aquae in the nowadays village of Serino and Pompeii by means of field GPS investigations. The Aqua Augusta was arguably built between 33 and 12 BC, under the Emperor Augustus. It crossed hilly terrain with channel gradients that varied and, consequently, impacting hydraulics. A flow of at least 1,000 litres per second was estimated. A great portion of the Aqua Augusta was engineered to be tunnelled under the hilly terrain, with some sections as much as 65 to 97 metres below the existing grade.

Keywords: Aqua Augusta; GPS; global positioning system; Misenum; Naples; Roman engineering; topography; water supply; Pompeii; water routes; water engineering; aqueducts; hydraulics; tunnels.

DOI: 10.1504/IJGENVI.2015.071851

International Journal of Global Environmental Issues, 2015 Vol.14 No.3/4, pp.177 - 186

Received: 13 Aug 2014
Accepted: 28 Oct 2014
Published online: 21 Sep 2015 *

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