The document summarizes the water system designed and built by the Inca at the archaeological site of Machu Picchu in Peru. The Inca engineers located a natural spring and built a 749m long stone canal with a 3% slope to carry water from the spring to a series of 16 fountains within the city. The fountains were arranged hierarchically and integrated with sophisticated drainage and irrigation systems to supply the population with water and protect against erosion. The system is still functional today, demonstrating advanced hydrological engineering by the Inca civilization.

1. Machu Picchu M. Anderson, 2006

6. Machu Picchu The valley below and the zig-zag road leading up to Machu Picchu.

19. Urban One of the buildings has several circular holes carved on the rock floor named the "mortar room" believed to have been used for preparation of dyes.

24. Only from the nearby hilltop observatory of Intipunku, can you visualize the full extent of this great engineering and architectural site.

39. Springs Canal Fountains

46. The Inca constructed their plazas in the same way as the terraces, with a deep subsurface layer of rock chips. The plazas received runoff from other areas of Machu Picchu, and the subsurface layer of rocks helped the water to penetrate the ground quickly. Plaza Drainage

51. FINI