Circa 77 A.D. – Use of lime and aluminous earth

Chemical precipitation or coagulation and flocculation with various salts of aluminum (e.g., alum), iron, lime and other inorganic or organic chemicals are widely used processes to treat water for the removal of colloidal particles (turbidity) and microbes. Treatment of water by the addition of chemical coagulants and precipitants has been practiced since ancient times, even…

97 A.D. – First book on water supplies

Sextius Julius Frontinus was appointed water inspector (Curator aquarium) in Rome, and he published the first book on water supplies entitled “De Aqueductibus Urbis Romae.” Sextus Julius Frontinus was Rome’s water commissioner (curator aquarum) at the end of the 1st Century AD under the emperors Nerva and Trajan. Frontinus’ books have made him the most…