Ancient solutions to water shortages have inspired some of the greatest inventions in the world.
Ingenious Worldwide Solutions to Water Rationing
In Egypt, temples faced a huge issue as worshippers were taking more water than they should. Hero of Alexandria, a mathematician, devised a mechanical solution.
Visitors would place a coin into a slot, causing the lever to open and close. When the water was dispensed, it reset for the next person. Hero’s invention would shape numerous technologies. Centuries later, Britain adopted the idea of coin-operated machinery and created a tobacco dispenser.
As a result of this creation, in the 19th century, coin-operated amusement machines appeared, which included mechanical horse races and spinning indicators. Eventually, slot machines emerged, featuring mechanical systems, such as balance scales to determine whether or not a coin would trigger a payout. Now, digital slot machines are commonplace. Sky Vegas new customer offers can be used to award free spins, using complex algorithms and promotional codes to assign bonuses to an account, in effect regulating the spins that can be used before money is deposited.
Interestingly, Egypt’s solution to solving a water crisis didn’t just lead to the creation of slot machines, it led to coin deposits in laundrettes, parking metres and public payphones, which sparked new, cultural movements.
Outside of Egypt, Persia adopted innovative ways to manage water, using underground tunnels to carry groundwater to dry settlements, which protected water from evaporation. Some qanats are still in use even after 2,000 years.
Source: Pexels
Qanats demonstrated how water could be transported without pumps, and eventually inspired gravity-led municipal water networks. These remained commonplace until the Industrial Revolution. You can find out more about how impactful qanats were on the UNESCO website.
The basic principle of this also inspired hydroelectric power, as this relies on gravity to cause water to flow from a higher elevation, converting gravitational energy into kinetic energy that can be used to power turbines.
The New River Transformed London’s Water Supply
Completed in 1613 with the backing of King James I, the New River carried fresh water 30 miles from Hertfordshire to London. More on that can be found by reading this article on the London Archives website.
Elm trunks were hollowed out to create wooden pipes, meaning water could be directed into households. The issue was that wooden pipes resulted in pressure losses, which inspired the creation of steam-powered pumping stations.
In 1698, Thomas Savery created the first steam-powered water pump, which transported water more efficiently, and in 1712, Thomas Newcomen created the steam engine, showing how solving a challenge led to one of the greatest inventions in British history. In 1825, the first public railway in the world to use steam locomotives opened in England.
London wasn’t the first city to solve major water supply issues, but it was one of the first to build a modern and large-scale urban system that could serve thousands of people, while inspiring a whole new generation of innovative technology that would go on to change the world.