The aqueducts
GENERAL INFORMATION
ARCHITECTURE
DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM
Water: a history
Position of the known sections of the aqueducts

DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM

The existence of at least five aqueducts has been discovered but the exact collection points as well as the position of the water towers where the water arrived in the city remain unknown. One of the aqueducts follows the valley of the ruisseau Saint-Marcel to the south-east of the city and undoubtedly supplied its southern districts. Four others run along the left bank of the Gère Valley and must have provided water for the rest of the urban area. Two of them can be seen at the eastern entrance to the city. The reason for the large number of these conduits in one valley was probably that they were built at different times, a new aqueduct being constructed to replace one that had developed faults. Nevertheless, the size of these aqueducts (one of them is, today, the widest one discovered in Gaul) and their number, puts Vienne among the best-supplied cities. It is also one of the earliest cities to be supplied, installations using pressurised water have been confirmed from the beginning of the Ist Century AD.
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