By Doug Criner

Many houses in Pompeii had running water.  Of course, water was supplied by gravity flow.  Elevated storage tanks in each house would have provided continuous pressure.

Photo 1 - Lead Water Pipe in Residence

Photo 1 shows a typical lead water pipe running horizontally on the ground floor of a lavish residence.  To the right of the pipe is a curb which enclosed an ornamental pool and garden.  The trough in which the pipe rests would have been covered to conceal the pipe.  The rectangular pedestal-mounted basin in the trough may not belong in this location.

The pipe is made in sections about 2-3 feet long, with joints visible between sections.  A U-shaped iron clamp is shown holding the pipe in place.

Note the bronze human statue, just behind the column, mounted on what appears to be a marble pedestal.  There is a tee in the water pipe feeding a branch line running inside the pedestal to provide water to the statue, possibly urinating.  (Note:  such a statuary pedestal would not have been of solid marble, but rather a marble veneer clad over brick and mortar, so embedment of the internal pipe would have been relatively simple.)  At the tee, there is a plug valve to isolate the water supply to the statue.  The valve may once have had a handwheel or possibly operated with a wrench.  Of course, none of the water piping is now in operation.

A second statue may be seen in the background, with another valve, barely visible, supplying it. 

Most of the bronze statuary at Pompeii are reproductions.  Many of the originals are displayed in the museum in Naples.

Photo 2 - Lead Water Pipes, Valve and Tee

Photo 2, taken in the same house as Photo 1, shows a tee and plug valve supplying an irrigation line to the garden area in the central courtyard of the home.  The lead pipe was cast in two semi-cylindrical segments and then joined together.  The valve is probably made of bronze.  A valve stem is square to accommodate a handwheel or wrench.

Photo 3 - Public Water Tank

Photo 3 depicts a stone, open-top tank for the general public, those without running water in their homes, to gather water.  In the far side of the tank, there is an overflow notch to maintain the water level several inches below the top.  To the right is a narrow trough to carry away the overflow.  The tank would have been continuously fed from a pipe no longer extant.

Photo 3 - Details of Tank Construction

Photo 3 is a detail of the same water tank shown in Photo 2.  Shown is an embedded iron strap to help hold the sides of the tank together.  It appears that holes were bored in each stone side.  The holes were then filled with lead (either molten or hammered) to serve as an anchor material.  An iron staple was then hammered into the holes.  The joints in the tank would have been caulked, possibly with oakum.

There is a legend, gleefully told by the tour guides, that among the wealthy citizens with running water supplied by lead pipes, there was a high incidence of lead poisoning and madness.  The public water tanks would have been more free-flowing and supplied by shorter lengths of lead pipe, so the working classes were spared.  We humans enjoy seeing justice served.

Photo 4 - Interior of Public Bathhouse

Roman public baths are now the subject of toga parties and New Yorker cartoons.  Probably typical of Roman baths, the one in Pompeii is really more of a sauna, configured as an assembly line.  Photo 4 shows but one of several stops on the assembly line.  The huge stone basin would have held cold water.

© Doug Criner, 2003