Waterworks

This impressive system of tanks was used to store drinking water as long as 2,000 years ago.

A building shaped like the Army Corps of Engineers logo, because why not?

A tiny plaque marks the location of the water source that facilitated the birth of modern-day Boston.

These abandoned waterworks are crumbling into the Potomac River.

An Industrial Revolution-era public work that purified water using nothing but sand.

A portal into the bricked up canal that runs through the heart of Washington D.C.

The hidden offices underneath Memorial Bridge have been locked up since 1976.

This Victorian marvel of engineering and artistic prowess is nicknamed the "Cathedral of Steam."

Medieval irrigation channels built into the sides of mountains provided Valais with water for hundreds of years.

A water pumping station disguised as a residential home to assuage concerned neighbors now tricks most passersby.

A small window on Via Piella offers a lovely and rare peek at Bologna's lost canals.

The U.S. Fish Commission’s effort to mass produce carp.

A tour de force of a fountain, memorializing a man who loved fountains more than anything else.

Before Nixon, "watergate" meant canals.

Every drop of D.C. tap water flows through this old waterworks.

This traditional garden in the San Fernando Valley doubled for Star Fleet Academy, and is irrigated entirely by wastewater.

These chunky stone towers out in Lake Michigan are the key to Chicago’s drinking water.