İzmir'in tarihi su iletim sistemleri

The first comprehensive investigation on long-distance water conveyance systems to meet the water needs of İzmir, a city with a history of several thousands of years, has been carried out towards the end of the 19. century by Georg Weber, within the framework of the activities of the German Archeological Institute, and published in 1899 in the Institute's yearbook. In the mean time, no new significant investigations were carried out, neither to go into more detail, nor to identify the alignment of these systems with the help of modern maps; moreover, the area covered by the city is growing fast, so that many of the remains found a century ago, cannot be found at present at their locations. The purpose of this study is, based on the information and drawings in Weber's report, backed by field investigations on what can still be found, and with the support of modern maps, try to determine the alignment of the historical long-distance water conveyance systems to antique Izmir (Smyrna). Principal long-distance water conveyance systems to Izmir are as follows: a) the 30 km long antique "Karapınar system", conveying the water from Karapınar springs on southern slopes of the Nif mountain, east of İzmir, and reaching the Kadifekale castle by crossing Melez creek through a 3.3 km long stone-pipe inverted siphon, with a discharge capacity in the order of 10 1/s; b) the 29 km long antique "Akpinar system", conveying the water of Akpinar springs, south of İzmir, and reaching the temple Zeus Akraios near Bayramyeri, with 62 1/s capacity; c) the antique 'Buca systems", partly used through later modifications, conveying waters of Kanlıgöl-Kaynaklar area east of Buca, continuing in Melez valley at eastern slopes of Kadifekale; d) the "Osmanağa system", conveying the water of the Kozağaç springs south of İzmir; e) the ottoman "Vezir system", conveying the waters of springs near Şirinyer, southeast of İzmir; f) the "Kapancıoğlu system", conveying the waters issuing from the northern slopes of Tepecik, east of İzmir.