Chapter 1: The Need For Water

In chapter one I had read about large civilizations ranging from Mesopotamia, Egypt, China, and Rome that had expanded just by building an irrigation system. Irrigation systems have been found around the world and are taken for granted. Three goals in the systems were flood control, irrigation, and grain transport. In the ancient world water supply systems took large amounts of labor but once conquers discovered the importance of the systems labor wasn’t a problem, yet in this world they had no power tools nothing more than axes, hammers, saws, and drills. As a war tactic armies used the waterworks as weapons such as flooding, and etc… The size and complexity of the systems imply that work forces were at large given the lack of elaborate equipment.

 A unique part that stood out to me in the reading was not only that it showed examples or pictures of these aqueducts but rules that follow them. The rules that came in the packet included about people stealing another farmers water supply system and if they messed up or over flood the lands a price comes with it. Surprisingly some ancient water supply systems still are alive today though they might not be used the tools that were being used at the time help supply modern cities today. Though it must have been tough with insects and pollution in the rivers, today we still deal with these problems but not as much. Some cultures like Egypt even based their calendars on the way their water supply worked. These aqueducts greatly impacted ancient civilizations it boosted cash crops, obtaining water for hydration, and basically made life a little easier, little did they know these systems that are used today had changed not only their cities but the world.