Avoiding Water Shortages Some Ancient Greek Solutions

One of the most important features of water provision in ancient Greek cities is that as many sources of water as possible were utilized, thus reducing the reliance on any one source. That is, if the enemy cut off the aqueduct, or if an earthquake interrupted the flow of the spring, there was cistern water to fall back on. If the cistern went dry, there was the fountain. If the rains were delayed, there was still the well or the spring. This meant that the failure of anyone source had less potential to devastate the community. Use of multiple sources of water was an evolutionary advance. The survival of the community was assured by the deliberate redundency of the system.