Water management in ancient Alexandria, Egypt. Comparison with Constantinople hydraulic system

Abstract

The collection, evaluation and listing of all available data related to the supply, collection and disposal of water is a project of combining and recording all the data for infrastructure projects and their structure within the urban structure of Alexandria and the wider region, as it was discovered and studied to this day. The paper is a description of the most important storage structures for the waters of the Nile River and the rain. Composing data from previous descriptions, archaeological excavations and random discoveries during construction work created a database. This database currently has 144 tanks of 1 to 4 levels, from 6 m3 to 2,500 m3. In particular, they have identified 27 tanks on 1 level, 50 tanks on 2 levels, 49 tanks on 3 levels, 9 tanks on 4 levels and 9 tanks whose exact morphology is unknown to us. The examples of reservoir technologies and management practices given in this work may be of some importance to the sustainability of water resources for the present and the future. Reservoirs have been used to store both rainwater and spring and river water to meet the needs of seasonal variations. The tanks range from simple to large underground structures. Then, a comparison is made with the water management systems in the wider Mediterranean region and especially in Istanbul, where there is such infrastructure. HIGHLIGHTS Topography and urban planning of Alexandria.; The tanks (cisterns) of Alexandria and their construction features.; The topography of the tanks and their placement on the city map.; Type-morphology and capacity of the tanks.; Evolution of the construction of reservoirs in the Mediterranean basin.;

Keywords

• alexandria
• cisterns
• hippodamus system
• rainwater management
• tanks
• water management