Overheard a tour guide say 'the Romans had better plumbing than my apartment' and I can't stop thinking about it

Was at the Baths of Caracalla in Rome last month and some guy whispered it to his girlfriend. Now every time my shower pressure drops I wonder what ancient engineers would think of my 2024 life.

3 comments

3 Comments

taylorellis24d agoMost Upvoted

A friend of mine renovated his bathroom and spent a stupid amount on a rainfall showerhead. First time I used it the water pressure was pathetic, basically a sad drizzle. He blamed the building but I think he just bought a fancy decoration. Made me wonder if Roman aqueducts delivered a stronger stream than my modern water heater ever could.

jake98623d ago

I read somewhere that the Roman aqueduct system moved over 300 million gallons of water a day across the empire. That's insane when you think about it. They had lead pipes though which probably wasn't great for their brains but at least the pressure was solid. Tour guides love dropping that fact about Roman plumbing being better than modern stuff because it gets people like us thinking. My buddy in an old building says his landlord blames the pipes from the 70s every time the shower turns into a dribble. Honestly makes you wonder if we just accepted worse water pressure as normal.

ray13623d ago

My friend's place in Brooklyn has this whole aesthetic bathroom with exposed brick and a vintage clawfoot tub, but the shower head is basically a sad little trickle. We were joking that a Roman aqueduct probably could have filled the tub in half the time it takes now. It's wild to think about how we've got all this fancy tech but sometimes the basic stuff just doesn't work as good as it did two thousand years ago.