The Aqua Anio Vetus was a Roman aqueduct, commissioned in 272 BC by censor Manius Curius Dentatus and funded from the war booty seized after the victory against Pyrrhus of Epirus[1]: 29 [2]: 148 .
The aqueduct was 64 km (40 mi) long[3]: 347 , approximately four times as long as Aqua Appia, and its discharge of 175,920 m3 (46,470,000 US gal)[3]: 347 over twice as large as the discharge of Aqua Appia. Its source is also much higher than the intake of Aqua Appia[citation needed][4]: §6–20 and it supplied water to higher elevations of the city[citation needed].
The intake of aqueduct was river Anio[2]: 148 , the water being taken directly from the river, and this made the water both muddy and discolored[4]: §15 [3]: 121 [1]: 30 . Because of low water quality, the water from the aqueduct was not used for drinking in later times[1]: 31 .
The aqueduct aquired the nickname of Vetus ("old") only after the Anio Novus was built almost three centuries later.[4]: §13
Constructing the aqueduct took over three years, and it was not finished until a duumviri (a committee of two) was appointed by the Senate to complete the works[1]: 29 . The appointees were the former cencor Curius, who had commissioned the aqueduct in the first place, and Flavius Flaccus[1]: 29 [2]: 148 -- since Curius died only five days after his appointment, the honor of actually finishing the construction of Anio Vetus went to Flaccus[1]: 29 [2]: 148 .
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