Water Supply and Sanitation in Ottoman Towns

From the fifteenth through nineteenth centuries, Ottoman authorities repaired inherited waterworks and built new supply systems. Istanbul, the empire’s capital in present-day Turkey, shows how water was collected, measured and carried to household doors; records also show how residents and officials responded to pollution. In the southern Levant, Ottoman-era repairs adapted an older aqueduct serving Jerusalem and Bethlehem.

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Bringing water into Istanbul

After Sultan Mehmed II conquered Constantinople in 1453, he ordered repairs to the city’s older waterworks and commissioned additional supply lines. He ruled from 1451 to 1481. Later Ottoman projects reused parts of the Roman and Byzantine network while extending it to new districts and institutions.

Under Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent (r. 1520–66), chief architect Sinan began the Kırkçeşme works in 1554. He surveyed streams fed by springs in the Belgrad Forest north of the city. Two supply branches carried water toward a head reservoir near Kemerburgaz, where they joined a covered gallery. The gallery crossed the Alibey stream over the Mağlova Aqueduct and continued through smaller arches and tunnels toward the Eğrikapı distribution chamber. Aqueducts bridged valleys so the enclosed channel could keep its gradual fall toward the city.

The works were completed before a major flood on 20 September 1563 damaged several arches. Repairs returned the system to service in 1564. Later additions changed the network again: between 1620 and 1818, four dams collected stream water during rainy seasons and increased the volume carried toward Istanbul.

Measuring and maintaining the network

Inside the city, water moved through a chain of settling tanks, reservoirs and distribution chambers. In settling tanks, gravel and sand dropped out before the water continued to the mains. A maksem, or distribution chamber, divided the flow among outlets. The lüle was one standard outlet size used to measure the amount assigned to a fountain or building. A su terazisi, a small tower with a cistern at its top, helped maintain pressure when pipes served higher neighborhoods.

The Department of Water organized the work behind the masonry. Inspectors surveyed proposed construction and repairs, crews supplied labor and materials, and a second inspection checked completed work. Waterway workers repaired pipes and tanks, while watchmen guarded dams and conduits. Workers sealed pipe joints with lökün, a waterproof plaster made from lime and olive oil. Regular users such as public baths and houses with private fountains paid monthly fees toward maintenance. Waqfs, or charitable endowments, also financed water lines, fountains, repairs and the wages of water-service workers.

Private users later found springs and connected them, singly or through a shared branch, into the main gallery. The Kırkçeşme gallery had capacity beyond its normal flow, so these additions increased the system’s volume and length. The canal retained a defined amount as its right; the remaining spring water went to the contributor’s foundation, house, bath or garden. In sixteenth-century Istanbul, the government favored supplying public fountains rather than private homes with mains water. A private mansion needed a royal patent for a direct connection. Households also drew from wells and stored water in cisterns, while carrier deliveries linked fountains to homes without private pipes.

From fountains to household containers

A neighborhood fountain turned the measured supply into water people could collect. Its tank held water, a fitted spout released it, and a basin caught the stream. People set pitchers on the stone ledges beside the basin while they waited. Founders sometimes paid for both the fountain and its supply line, and endowment deeds could specify how much water the outlet received.

Water carriers, called saka, served houses when mains water did not reach them or could not meet demand. A foot carrier balanced a leather skin holding about 45 to 50 litres on his back; other carriers used horses. Carriers were assigned particular fountains and limited in number at each one. Restrictions kept them from blocking residents collecting water for free, though records describe disputes between mounted and foot carriers at shared fountains.

At some houses a carrier poured his load into a small stone tank beside the entrance without entering the home. Pipes from this tank fed jars in a courtyard or inside the house. Residents dipped water out with a cup. Some houses had small wall-mounted tanks with taps in living rooms or lavatories, also supplied from the entrance tank.

Waste and protection of water sources

In 1893, investigators examining Istanbul’s Great Dam found that streams passing through the villages of Belgrad and Kömürcü carried human and animal waste into the reservoir. Officials ordered residents to stop using the dam water and draw from other local sources. In Belgrad houses without sewers, they had small pits dug; municipal teams also checked pipes and warned residents not to contaminate the streams. The report led to different outcomes. By January 1895, Belgrad and Kömürcü had been vacated except for three foreign-owned houses and the church. In Bahçeköy, eight houses identified as polluting the dam were vacated in December 1893; the broader relocation remained stalled over its cost.

A separate municipal case that year concerned diapers repeatedly thrown into a stream at the end of Nişantaşı-Teşvikiye Street. The municipality ordered regular cleaning to reduce foul smells and disease risk.

Adapting Jerusalem’s older supply

Jerusalem drew water through an aqueduct network whose Lower Aqueduct carried water from Solomon’s Pools, south of Bethlehem, toward the city. Süleyman’s sixteenth-century patronage included public sabīls, or drinking fountains: eight survive along the Old City’s main streets, with another on the road to Jaffa Gate. These outlets served the public along roads and city streets.

Ottoman engineers later altered the inherited channel. In 1786, sections of the open Roman aqueduct were replaced by closed pottery pipes; in 1889, iron pipes were installed along the Bethlehem-to-Jerusalem section. Cisterns and public fountains continued to receive water from the network as its materials changed.