1. What is an aqueduct? What makes the Croton Aqueduct an aqueduct?
An aqueduct is a man made tunnel or passageway, used to transport water, that is normally used for and by people, from place to place. The Croton Aqueduct is an aqueduct because it is a man made passageway that carries about 10% of New York City's water, which travels from the Croton river to Central Park.
2. Why was the Croton Aqueduct built? What need was it constructed to fulfill?
The Croton aqueduct was built to help sustain life in New York. By this I mean that the people in New York and the city itself were desperate for some clean drinking water. They were getting very little water, and if they were able to get any at all then it would probably be contaminated. This would cause waterborne diseases such as cholera, causing thousands of people to die. So the Croton aqueduct was built so that there would be clean and fresh water to all of New York, with out any problems. Once built, the Croton Aqueduct was able to send out water to all of New York City and sustain the life of those people.
3. What is the start and end points (terminus) of the Croton Aqueduct? What is the relationship of both points to the purpose of the aqueduct?
Like every other aqueduct the Croton Aqueduct has a start and an end point. For the Croton Aqueduct the start point would be the Croton river and the end point would be Central Park.
The Croton River has a relationship to the Croton Aqueduct because it is where the water comes from so practically the river supplies the aqueduct with the water that it needs to make it an aqueduct. So with out the Croton River there could still be an aqueduct just not in that one spot.
Central Park has to do with the aqueduct because after the water has traveled 41 miles, it ends up in Central Park, even if it is then distributed to all of Manhattan. This relates to the aqueduct because the aqueduct transports the water to here so with out this there would be no way to easily access the water.
4. What stage of development-undeveloped, developing, and developed- does the Croton Aqueduct belong in? Explain why it is part that stage.
From when New York City was first founded it has gone through three stages; undeveloped (when it was in terrible times), developing (when it was getting better), and developed (where we are today). I would say that out of these three stages, building the Croton Aqueduct would put New York City (at that point) in the developing stage. I would say that this is the developing stage because this is the first aqueduct that they had built so it means that they are improving their life standard and are making it more healthy for people to live in.
5. Identify some of the features of the Croton Aqueduct. How do they help the aqueduct transport water from start to end points?
Some of the features of the Croton Aqueduct include:
- Being a stone built aqueduct, so that it holds a lot better. This helps water travel from one point to the other because if it was a soft, not a smooth, material then the aqueduct could collapse. In fact when they built it the first time, they added some dirt and parts of the earth and so when a big water flood came, it melted the aqueduct.
- It is also underground. This does not help the water travel from start to end, but it does save space for us in the city.
- The aqueduct has special gates that keep the water flow at a steady pace. This helps the travel of the water, from start to finish, because if there was too much water then the aqueduct could have some droughty spots and then the city would have a downpour of water. The gates, on the other hand, keep the water a a slow pace so that it gets to the city, just at the right time, speed, and quantity.
- It has air passageways of ventilation systems. This helps the water flow from start to beginning because the ventilation allows air to get into the aqueduct and since there is water inside the water flows better, since with out air the water would not move and it would take in everything around it and become undrinkable.