at a glance

in the beginning of the 18th century, one of the major problems faced by the urbanization of rio was the constant lack of fresh water - in fact, water had to be physically carried from the carioca river to the center of town by indigenous who would sell the water, and later by slaves.

while the area occupied by the city is rich of streams and rivers, the water of the carioca river was determined to be the purest for human consumption, both by the Portuguese colonists and by the indigenous population that claimed women who used the river's water were 'more beautiful'.

back then, the city was surrounded by marshes and swamps, and in 1602, plans were made to start building a system of canals to bring water to the center of rio from the rio carioca (carioca river). several attempts were made, but canal construction was hampered by technical and financial difficulties, and by the end of the 17th century there were only a  few functioning canals.