Roman aqueduct
Rome's first aqueduct was built in 312 BC, and supplied a water fountain at the city's cattle market. By the 3rd century AD, the city had eleven aqueducts, sustaining a population of over a million in a water-extravagant economy; most of the water supplied the city's many public baths. Cities and towns throughout the Roman Empire emulated this model, and funded aqueducts as objects of public interest and civic pride, "an expensive yet necessary luxury to which all could, and did, aspire".
Odivelas
In 1731, John V decreed the beginning of the construction of the Águas Livres Aqueduct, that began in the "Fonte das Águas Livres" near Carenque and ended in reservoir in Amoreira (completed in 1834). The Amoreira reservoir (), albeit a beautiful space, has a capacity for which were transported through subterranean tunnels to the numerous fountains in Lisbon. The aqueduct was never totally efficient, and its waters were impure and in low quantities. Much later, in 1833, the "Quinta da Pentieira" was constructed in the parish of Pontinha, as a cemetery for victims of cholera. Until the 19th century, Lisbon was a city infected by epidemics with poor quality sources of water. Many of the richer citizens paid men (many from Caneças) to deliver to their homes potable water. Water from Caneças was of a good quality, and its fountains provided a quantity of water that was transported by carriage or barrel to residents of Lisbon, in addition to laundry services and horticultural products.