Evolution of Byzlander Water and Sanitation

Ancient Byzland

Water was both vital to survival in ancient Byzland and also destructive to the mud bricks that served as the main building material. Those who could afford to do so would often paint the roof and the base of their dwellings (if not the whole thing) in white lime plaster to make them more water-resistant, and some would build small channels in their roof to funnel the water to particular parts of the roof.

Typically, individual homes would collect rainwater in storage vessels in the kitchen. However, depending on the time of year and the weather, this might not be enough. Some homes had their own wells, often in the kitchen area, but most urban dwellers would collect water from the communal well, often located a block or two away. Water brought to the home would often be sorted into separate vessels, each with designated uses, and residents could pay someone to bring water for the well for a fee. Neighborhoods in Polis that were connected to the aqueduct system would often have communal fountains, and it was believed that running water would be safer to drink and cook with. Cooking and drinking water that had been stored was also typically boiled before use, with the belief that this made the water behave like running water and thus made it safer for use. Still, the upper classes preferred to drink watered down wine and strained table beer, while the lower classes mixed water with vinegar to make posca and drank unstrained beer. This wasn't because the ancient water was unsafe to drink (thanks to the boiling practices)

The ancient Byzlanders used a paste-like rudimentary soft soap, typically made of on lye from ashes, oils and fats, and sand or clay. Those who could afford it would purchase scented soft soaps from a soaper, but even the poorest would collect their ashes from the hearth and either exchange them for soap at the soapery or would make their own homemade soft soap. While they did not understand germ theory, they understood that this soap would work best for removing the grime of the day and believed that being visually clean was important.

This soap was also used in various purity rituals, including washing faces and hands with soft soap after rising for the day and before or after meals and using the latrine. If the monetary and water budgets allowed, ancient Byzlanders of all social classes would stand in a basin and douse themselves with water. The upper class may also have had a stone slab that would redirect the runoff water into a new storage vessel. In all cases, this runoff water was frequently reused, either for irrigation or for cleaning off the streets in front of the dwelling.

Residents of the palace compounds or rural homesteads would have access to their own latrines and cesspits. Residents in lower-class urban settings, however, would often resort to chamber pots that would be dumped out onto the street, where often a drainage channel in the center would be carved. The streets would often flood when it rained, and the runoff would carry the refuse into the river or the ocean. Upper-class residents would likely have a latrine in an alcove off of one of the rooms in their house. In multistory dwellings, the latrine in a floor made of stone may have opened directly onto an open cavity in the wall with a cesspit below, while mudbrick floors may have either had an opening onto a chute made of stone (sometimes the only stone construction in the building) or earthenware or simply relied on chamber pots. The wealthy would often have servants take the contents of the chamber pot to a river, a canal, or just to the fields to dispose of it so that the streets of their neighborhoods remained relatively clean and waste-free.

After using the latrine, the wealthy would clean themselves with water, if available. Earthenware vessels with long spouts were often used for this purpose. The less well-off might use rocks or pottery shards, sticks and wood chips, plant leaves or cobs, or even just their hands. All classes wash their hands with water and (if possible) with soft soap as a standard purification ritual.

Early Classical Byzland

The city government of Polis had, by this time, embarked on an extensive public works campaign after several plagues and droughts in a short period of time had exposed the flaws in the city's water and sanitation system. Still, much of this was in its infancy and had not yet reached the splendor associated with the Classical Imperial period. Additionally, other cities and towns across the Byzlander Empire did their best to build a network on the Politan model, but no other city had the same level of money or resources. The reader is thus warned to assume that smaller cities had some of these developments, towns had the basics, and rural villages often remained indistinguishable from their Ancient predecessors.

Water Supply and Sewers

The Problem in Polis

Polis is situated on the Akrorion, a peninsula which juts out into the Byzic Straits that connect the Septentrion (northern ocean) and the Noterion (southern ocean) and separate Heosia (the eastern continent) from Dysia (the western continent). The Akrorion ends at a promontory known as the Skopelion. The peninsula is separated from the Heosiote mainland by the Ekvoli, a small bay and natural harbor that is the estuary of the River Amnis, which flowed into the Ekvoli from Lake Limnópontos. The peninsula itself is the end of the Orovounia mountain range, which separates the Limnopontian basin from the Noterion and forces it to drain into the Amnis. A rather prominent yet well-eroded mountain (or large hill), the Vounoros, is the last mountain or hill before reaching the Akrorion.

Several small streams, including the Potamion, flowed down from the Vounoros or from natural springs on the ridge of the Akrorion into the city, and a few small aqueducts had been built from the Vounoros in ancient times. While local wells located too close to the shore would provide saltwater instead of freshwater, as Polis itself was surrounded by salt (the Straits) or brackish (the Ekvoli) water, the aqueducts combined with local wells far enough from shore to provide freshwater and private rainwater collection had almost always been able to provide enough water for the city in ancient times, although there was always a sense that water was a resource to be rationed.

But by the Early Classical period, the population of Polis had grown to the point where local wells and these small aqueducts were no longer sufficient. This presented a number of challenges and opportunities for Politan engineers in the Early Classical period. While the Amnis and its seemingly endless supply of fresh water was not too far away, permanent construction along its shores before it reached the Ekvoli was complicated by its annual flood spurred by spring runoff overflowing the banks of the Limnópontos. Large streams in the Orovounias could provide enough water for larger aqueducts, but visible aqueducts could be tampered with or disabled by invaders or natural disasters.

The Politan Solution

The solution chosen by early classical Politan engineers was to build a network of qanats, or underground aqueducts, from springs and wells on the Vounoros. These qanats were then split into various kariz, or smaller qanats, when they reached the city. These kariz would surface at outlets located throughout the city. After a kariz surfaced, the water would be redirected into various covered channels running alongside or under the streets to bring the water to various locations.

To make this system work, the Empire embarked on a decades-long public works project of raising the street level. First, the engineers would section off a thoroughfare and dig a trench down the center where the drainage ditch had been. They would then build an arched fired masonry channel lined with concrete made from hydraulic cement, volcanic ash, lime, and crushed pottery, then fill the street with dirt and other infill. Above the masonry channel they would build a stone channel, typically slightly off-set, sealed with hydraulic lime plaster with pottery shards. This higher channel would carry the clean water and the deeper channel would carry waste water.

On smaller streets or in districts where imperial authorities did not wish to spend quite as much money, both the sewer and clean water channels were made from terracotta pipes or, if digging up or elevating the entire street was too expensive, one rough-cut fieldstone channel was used that was split into two vertically stacked section by a terracotta tile. The top section carried clean water while the bottom carried sewage. As the water moved through the channels, it would grow progressively warmer and more polluted, making the lower downstream sections less desirable locations. Similarly, sewer clogs were more likely to occur in downstream locations far away from the kariz outlets. This meant that because the water from the kariz was freshest, cleanest, and coolest right after entering the city, upper-class Politans wanted to live at or upstream of the surface outlet. This also meant that "upper class" began to have both pecuniary and physical connotations.

Water from the original above-ground aqueduct was directed into a large reservoir immediately upon entering Polis that acted as a settling basin. A gate, typically closed, would allow the water from this cistern to enter the city's potable water mains. Once this cistern was full, special openings would redirect the overflow into the sewer lines to make sure they were constantly cleaned. Similar settling basins were built for the springs inside the city, although the water had to pass through unlined terracotta tiles to be filtered before being allowed to enter the clean water mains, as the engineers were worried about cross-contamination.

The clean water lines would often lead to water cellars that were strategically located throughout Polis. The cisterns for these cellars were built below ground level with walls that were over two cubits thick and lined with waterproof mortar. The water cellars typically had a domed roof and a masonry windcatcher. The windcatcher would redirect the prevailing winds down to where the kariz fed the water cellar, cooling and aerating the water. This meant that the water in the cellar would remain pure, clean, and cold regardless of the time of year or outside temperature. The cellars would feed faucets or public fountains accessible via a short flight of stairs, and thus anybody could come and partake of the water.

Some of these water cellars were designated as ice houses. The combination of a domed roof, windcatchers, and the already cold water from the kariz meant that temperatures in the ice house would keep ice and food fresh year-round and could even, in some cases, allow the city to freeze water into ice in the summer.

The clean water lines would also feed veil fountains in public spaces. These fountains, in which a thin layer of water ran over a ridged stone slab, providing evaporative cooling in the warm months. City engineers could have these shut off in the winter depending on the temperature.

Public basins, often covered to protect from the elements, were also fed by these clean water lines. Known as stepwells (despite not technically being wells), they often also included fountains for refilling water. In many cases, these stepwells also featured lavoirs for washing clothes. The overflow from the stepwell would run into the first basin, which was used for rinsing clothes, and then the water from this basin would run into a second basin, which was used for soaping and washing the clothes. Smaller public water fountains were also installed throughout the city to ensure most people had ready access to potable water.

In locations where a local well was deemed to be infiltrated by saline groundwater or where a lot of rainwater collected, the city constructed rainwells. The area around these wells would be dug to a depth of 10 to 13 cubits, and then a thick water-resistant layer of clay would be placed at the bottom. If the well was deeper than the pit, the well would also be filled in to a depth of about 9 to 10 cubits. Then these pits would be filled with stones and sand and topped with terracotta paving tiles. Gutters from nearby buildings would also redirect rainwater into the square around the well. The rainwater would be collected by this pit and filtered by the terracotta, stones, and sand, and then it would collect at the bottom of the well for local use. Similar techniques were used to fill additional settling basin cisterns to act as backup water sources.

If a building was connected to the water network, they would be expected to pay a tax based on the account of water they could access. For most buildings, a first floor fountain or two was the likely outcome, although some buildings had private cisterns. Many also replicated the rainwell technique in their own courtyards as a precautionary measure. The truly wealthy or those involved in food preservation would use a wind catcher and either a rainwell cistern or a subterranean fountain (sometimes gray water, if corners had to be cut) to cool a basement room for food storage and escaping the summer heat. Private buildings were often connected to the main water lines using copper (if upper-class) or terracotta pipes.

Politan Sewers

To help with the sanitation problem brought on by increased population growth, public latrines were built across Polis. These buildings often had public water fountains outside and used the gray water from these fountains to flush the content of the latrines into the sewers, and many latrines (especially in richer areas) had spouted jugs for cleaning and another fountain inside for washing hands and filling those spouted jugs. However, some people still preferred using sticks or rocks, and in poorer areas those who wanted to clean themselves with water needed to bring their own jug and fill it before entering the latrine. Handwashing would have also taken place in these fountains.

Private latrines were also constructed in residences and commercial buildings. Often the building's gray water was used to flush the latrine pit into the sewer, but multistory buildings would often have angled chutes connecting the latrine to the main latrine chute, and these often needed to be cleaned manually to prevent smells. Cheaper buildings might limit latrines to one per floor or maybe just one in the courtyard or first floor. The cheapest landlords would not pay to get their building connected to the network and thus residents would need to bring their chamber pots to the nearest public latrine. Sewer lines were almost universally built using terracotta pipes.

Non-Politan Solutions

Cities outside Polis often tried to duplicate as much of the Politan water system as they could. Depending on the size and location of the settlement, they might build rainwells, qanats, or aboveground aqueducts. Most settlements couldn't afford to do a full-scale street elevation program, but often built stacked trenches to provide clean water and sewers. Terracotta pipes were the norm, but smaller settlements sometimes used wooden pipes.

Rural villages or farming areas would rely on irrigation canals. Because this moving water was open to the air and thus contamination, the village stepwell or the cistern of the rich landowner's villa would not be fed directly from the irrigation canal. Instead, it would feed a rainwell-style filter that would fill the stepwell or cistern. In fact, the village stepwell and lavoir was seen as the social heart of a settlement. When a settlement became large enough to need a sewer system, the runoff from the stepwell would often be the source of the graywater to flush the system. Until that point, the runoff from the lavoir would be funneled into a drainage ditch and used to push the waste from the public latrine away from the stepwell.