Following the City's Water Flow

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WHEN YOU THINK of the word "aqueduct," an image of an impressive arched Roman ruin towering above a valley is likely to pop into your head. But when you dissect the Latin word aquaeductus, the meaning is much less grand: "from aquae (genitive of aqua) + ductus (the act of leading)."

So an aqueduct doesn't have to be above ground. In fact, one of the world's most complex engineering projects, New York City's Water Tunnel No. 3, will be perhaps the most impressive aqueduct ever built when it is completed in 2020 after a half-century of construction. But it is far below ground and out of sight, just like most of the Washington Aqueduct.

In Sunday's edition of The Post, Answer Man John Kelly got a tour of the water delivery system, parts of which are around 150 years old. Engineer Montgomery Meigs, who oversaw construction of the Pension Building (today's National Building Museum) and the mid-19th Century expansion of the U.S. Capitol, started construction on the water connection in the 1850s.

Over the years, the system expanded, and while the vast majority of its infrastructure is hidden, parts of the water system peek out around town for all to see.

Pictured above are the ruins the McMillan Reservoir sand filtration plant, which sits off North Capitol Street near Michigan Avenue. The complex, built in 1905, might be Washington's version of the Emperor Justinian's Basilica Cistern in modern-day Istanbul, an ancient underground water reservoir featured in the James Bond movie "From Russia With Love."

The former sand filtration center, listed as one of the city's most endangered sites by the D.C. Preservation League, doesn't look like much from above, but its catacomb-like underground chambers are far more impressive. The plant sits abandoned while the District figures out what to do with it.

Kelly's water tour was originally sparked by a reader inquiry about the mysterious fenced-off grassy hill at Van Ness and 44th streets NW in American University Park. The fence protects one of the city's large underground reservoirs, which sit on elevated ground to allow water and gravity to push water to different parts of town.

Another underground reservoir sits in Tenleytown at Fort Reno Park. The castle-like turret, pictured above, sits at D.C.'s highest point, and is part of the water delivery network.

The remains of one of the Washington Aqueduct's early water-holding chambers are viewable, ironically, at another Washington ruin: the Georgetown Public Library, which was nearly destroyed by fire in late April. The embankment walls that can be seen at the library's Book Hill Park formed the foundation of the reservoir that sat at Wisconsin Avenue and R Street NW.

It should be no surprise that Reservoir Road sits nearby. Follow the road west, and you'll hit the Georgetown Reservoir, with its two fortress-style buildings that sit at either end. At that point, Reservoir Road runs into MacArthur Boulevard, which follows the path of the original 1850s aqueduct. The road used be called Conduit Road, which provides a clue as to what lies beneath.

Near the District-Maryland border sits Dalecarlia Reservoir and its water treatment plant. Further into Maryland, you'll encounter what was once the world's longest-freestanding arch. Meigs' original Cabin John bridge for the aqueduct is an impressive structure, but is best seen while driving underneath it on Cabin John Parkway, which connects the Capital Beltway with Clara Barton Parkway.

If you keep following MacArthur Boulevard, you'll hit Great Falls, the source of D.C.'s water.

Now, if you're wondering where all that water goes after it's consumed, that's another story, and one involving an infrastructure that's less impressive ....

» "Washington Aqueduct" [NPS]
» "D.C. Water and Sewer Authority: Facilities" [WASA]

Photos by Robert A. Reeder/The Washington Post and Michael Grass/Express