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Aqueducts

Classification of the Roman aqueducts

Differently from the other monuments, aqueducts will be classified as follows:

NUSR.ACQ.xxx whereas: first 4 letters mean, as for the other monuments, "Numerazione Ufficiale dei Signa Romanorum" (Official Numeration of Signa Romanorum). "ACQ" is for "acquedotti"   ("aqueducts" in Italian); the first "xx" means the number of the road. Third 'x' is a progressive number, beginning with zero, for more segments belonging to the same aqueducts but in different places..

Literally a water-conduit,  the word is used especially for the magnificent structures by means of which Rome and other cities of the Roman empire were supplied with water, most of time thanks to masonry arches.  In Rome they had a total length of about 350 km, but only 47 km built on the surface, the rest were underground.  The most sophisticated part of their architecture was the slope, its gradient: built with just a slight tollerance, e.g. the aqueduct in Provence at the famous Pont du Gard has a gradient of only 34 cm each  km, which mean it loses only 17 meters on a total length of 50 km. The water flow rate of the aqueduct was measured in  quinariae, which was about 0,48 lt/sec.