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Underneath a square in Athens, there is a wonder of engineering that has been dormant for centuries-the Aqueduct of Adriano, and a part of it passes under a coffee called Dexamen.
According to, most dexamen customers are unaware of the story that is a few meters away, but recently began to use it.
“95% of customers do not know that the aqueduct exists,” he said Nektarios nikolopoulosthe owner of coffee. “They know Dexameni for coffee, not for their history.”
The Greek capital is in its arms with a huge wave of heat, with temperatures around 40 Graus Celsius (104 f) for several days. This situation is aggravating an already severe water crisis that led the city’s water reserves to the limit.
In desperation, the authorities are resorting to this hidden relic. It is a aqueduct with about 24 kilometers longcommissioned by the Roman emperor Adriano for almost two millennia.
In recent weeks, water has flowed again through its old channels to serve the city.
To refer to Crisis has been aggravated for years. Last September, the Dam of Mornos, about 200 kilometers west of Athens, dried in such a way that He revealed the ruins of a submerged village since the 1970s.
The two main reservoirs of the city, the warm lakes and Evinos, recorded a Reduction of about 40% on its usual surface.
Last year they were 80% and in 2022 they were close to their maximum capacity. Confronted with this situation, the water and sewage supply company of Athens began to Search for solutions outside the box. He eventually found an idea even under his feet.
Adriano’s aqueduct was a masterpiece of his time. Ordered in 125 AD and completed 15 years later, it was not just a channel to carry water, but an ingenious system to collect it. The aqueduct was the main source of water supply in the region for centuriesfunctioning without major changes to the Ottoman occupation in the fifteenth century.
The aqueduct works through a soft slope, fed by gravity, but its true genius lies in its conception as a collector. “It’s an underground channel,” he explained Giorgos sachinisDirector of Strategy and Innovation of the Athens Water and Sewage Supply Company.
“The way it works, infiltrates water from the water table in this channel.” The in -operation aqueduct extracts water from underground aquifers, as well as surface water courses.
This intricate network was originally built, probably by enslaved workersthrough the excavation of hundreds of vertical wells, or wells, and then excavating horizontally between them to meet in the middle.
Of the 456 original wells, it is known that about 390 currently survive. The current project, however, has a fundamental distinction: The water from the aqueduct will not be to drink.
“The goal is to remove this water from Adriano’s aqueduct before reaching the final reservoir, because it will not have the standards of drinking water. Therefore, we have to find non -potable uses, such as the urban irrigationa street washa fire protectionos industrial uses – This kind of things. ”
Instead of based on new carbon intensive buildings, this approach reuse existing assets. It is basically a circular economy on a secular scale. Since these old systems are often fed by gravity, they need a minimum energy compared to modern pumping stations, significantly reducing their operational footprint.
Engineers are exploring 20 of the old wells to serve as access points to new local water networks. For a first experience, a 2.5 kilometers conduct was built to connect the central reservoir of the Aqueduct, which is under the Dexameni Square, to the suburban neighborhoods.
The conduct will begin by providing non -drinking water to civil buildings and eventually to about 80 houses.
The first of these local networks was expected to work in late July or early August, and Conclusion of the project scheduled for 2029.
Although this is an exciting project for Athens and offers hope to similar cities and situations, it is a sober reminder that “maintaining normal” is not enough in the current climate. This project is an intelligent adaptation born of despair and is only useful as a temporary solution to the problem.
Ultimately, it cannot, by itself, replenish the vast reservoirs of Athens, which are decreasing, or reverse years of prolonged drought. For this, “we need to reformulate fundamentally the relationship of our modern world with our own water.”
Teresa Oliveira Campos, Zap //
