Reply #32: Take a look at Alexandria one day. Much of its Roman understory... [View All]

[TheMadMonk]

...remains functional today. I never said the Romans were up to modern hygiene standards. I said they built a comprehensive and coherent understory to their cities: Cisterns, sewers and drains, aqueducts, fountains, wells.

Just how much does it cost to dig half a dozen separate trenches, for half a dozen different utility services.

The one that really pisses me off when I see it, is where one utility comes late to the party in a new development and starts installing after the road's down. Every houseblock a patch (or even 2 a couple of metres apart) running across the full width of the road.

Whole roads would definitely be the province of new developments for now, but sidwalk trench tunnels are something which should be easily and affordably doable with enormous long term cost and maintenance benefits.

Playing fields and open parkland too would be ideal places to install underground stormwater cisterns even if roads are too radical. These days it is as simple as lining a hole with poly-ethylene plastic, filling it with milk crates and laying a cap and turf over the top.


Au contraire, there is plenty of fucking piping for semi-clean water. Virtually all of it devoted to throwing such water away.

And the extra piping for non-potable water returning (which you seem to imply is too expensive) is in fact going in, mostly in new developments for now, but also where there are major redevelopments happening as well.

All that's missing now is a way to gracefully combine stormwater runnoff with the non-potable water supply.