Is snowpack water worth it (or possible)?

[AlgaeNymph]

One thing I’d like to do for my nation is to connect the main city to each water source in the Nomen Heights (the mountain range in the eastern part of the Stolen Lands). While possible in purely game-mechanical terms, I have a fetish for verisimilitude and thus the following questions:

• Would the water be of better quality? If so, would it merit any ad-hoc bonuses to my nation’s stats in addition to the +1-per-hex Loyalty and Stability bonus? Yes, I know there’s “perfectly good” river water in the hills, but hill water is for country bumpkins*. No, I don’t care that most of the populace are country bumpkins who’d think that daily bathing is “‘fer them thar sissy nobles.”

• Would building straight from the mountains be possible? From my cursory research on Roman aqueducts they got their water from nearby hill springs rather than all the way from the Alps. It’s not length I’m concerned with; I want to know if it’s possible to build an aqueduct on a mountain. I also want to know what this would do to the water pressure.

I look forward to your answers and suggestions. :)

* Apologies to rural folks and fans of the Ring of Fire series. Let’s just say the quest givers in Kingmaker…weren’t the most presentable. They’d make Amiri look like a Rostlandic noble in comparison.

[andi598d]

I'd question the quality of snowpack water. Personally, I'd use glacial water and/or find a suitable aquifer.

I don't see in principle why it wouldn't be possible, as long as you start high enough. Roman architects suggested that a slope greater than 1:4800 would increase water pressure on the channel to the point of causing premature erosion damage; aquaeducts requiring a greater slope either used stepped channels or were frequently interrupted by reservoirs to manage pressure and flow speed of the water. If you're tapping a glacier in the Nomen Heights, you probably want to cascade the water down most of the mountain, and build a 'regular' aquaeduct from there. The height difference of, for example, the Pont du Gard is 17m height over 50km length. The Aqua Marcia in Rome was ~90km long, with a height differential of 260m. If my memory doesn't completely deceive me, that is about right for the distance from Tuskwater Lake to the Tors.

[AlgaeNymph]

Sorry about the late reply.

Anyway, I didn't know I could get glacier water from mountains but that's a better idea than mine! I am curious as to why you'd question snowpack water though. Not being oppositional, just curious.

By "cascade the water down most of the mountain" I hope you mean in a specialized stepped channel aqueduct like what you mentioned. I don't wanna get my shower water dirty.

The length of a aqueduct from a river source in the Nomen Heights to Tuskwater Lake would be ~73mi/~116km at the shortest. Like I said, however, I don't think length will be a problem.

[andi598d]

Either in a stepped aquaeduct or even a suitable riverbed - gravel or rock bottom, little exposure to soil. I'd consider most stream water in, say, the Alps to be potable to this day, certainly above tree level.

Regarding snowpack water, on doing some digging, I think I mistranslated. Snowpack water should be fine - I was thinking of more temporary, low-volume accumulations.

[AlgaeNymph]

You're still here? Thanks. :)

Something else I've been thinking about is the feasibility of either building across the rivers, which are hundreds of feet wide and dozens deep, or making sharp turns at the fords.

So, how shallow does a river have to be before I can build an aqueduct across it? How sharp a bend can an aqueduct have?

Also, good to see that snowpack is viable after all since that'll mean more water to go around. There's only so much in frozen tarns, and they could also be infested with linnorms.

[Philip Knowsley]

Yeah, you wouldn't want people to catch linnorms. Imagine the cost of going to the doctor for that... :)
As for bridging rivers with aqueducts, I'm sure you'd be ok with using the existing rules for roads.

[Tobaris]

I know this is probably long dead but there is another point to consider. The Nomen Heights already feed a major river system and is home to at least one dragon. There could be environmental repercussions as well as intelligent beings claiming a water toll, on the flip side this could be turned to an advantage in the right hands.