The Lower Aqueduct was originally built more than 2,000 years ago by kings in the Hasmonean dynasty, who ruled Judea and its surrounding regions from about 140 B.C. Archaeologists at the IAA conducted an excavation of the site following its discovery, but the remains have since been covered up again to preserve the structure and prevent any damage, agency officials said.  A section of Jerusalem’s Lower Aqueduct, which brought water to Jerusalem more than two millennia ago, was uncovered in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Umm Tuba during the construction of a new sewer line, it was announced Thursday. “The Lower Aqueduct to Jerusalem, which the Hasmonean kings constructed more than 2,000 years ago in order to provide water to Jerusalem, operated intermittently until about one hundred years ago,” said Ya’akov Billig, the director of the excavation. The water conduit functioned intermittently until about 100 years ago, when it was replaced by a modern electrically operated system. Video: Ancient Roman Aqueduct Source Discovered 
 
 Unearthed in Umm Tuba, an Arab neighborhood in East Jerusalem, the aqueduct begins at the Eitam spring near Solomon’s Pools, three reservoirs south of Bethlehem that are the heart of the water system, and is approximately 13 miles long. “Despite its length, it flows along a very gentle downward slope whereby the water level falls just one meter (3.2 feet) per kilometer of distance (0.62 miles),” Ya’akov Billig, the excavation director, said. At first, the water was conveyed inside an open channel, and about 500 years ago, during the Ottoman period, a terra cotta pipe was installed inside the channel in order to better protect the water.” 
 
 Billig added that while the aqueduct’s route went through uninhabited areas when it was first built, it now runs through several populated areas, including Umm Tuba, East Talpiot and Abu Tor, due to Jerusalem’s expansion. The sprawling, 13-mile-long (21 kilometers) aqueduct carried water to the capital, and "operated intermittently until about 100 years ago," Ya'akov Billig, director of the aqueduct excavation with the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), said in a statement.
– Workers constructing a sewer line in East Jerusalem last month discovered a 2,000-year-old water-supply system that—think about this—worked fairly well until the last century, LiveScience reports. The 13-mile long Lower Aqueduct, which was fed by a spring south of Bethlehem and runs through four modern-day Jerusalem neighborhoods, was built by kings governing Judea and environs from roughly 140 BC to 37 BC. City rulers kept it up over the years, covering the open channel with terra cotta pipe about 500 years ago. It remained a major water-supply source until an electrical water distribution system replaced it roughly 100 years ago, according to the Israel Antiquities Authority. The IAA says it will cover part of the aqueduct "for the sake of future generations" and expose parts for access by the general public, Discovery reports. Meanwhile, archaeologists are marveling: "The aqueduct begins at the ‘En ‘Eitam spring, near Solomon’s Pools south of Bethlehem," says IAA Director Ya'akov Billig. "Despite its length, it flows along a very gentle downward slope whereby the water level falls just one meter per kilometer of distance." The original designers look pretty smart, too, having built the aqueduct in uninhabited areas where Jerusalem neighborhoods now exist, the Times of Israel notes. Other parts of the aqueduct system have been found before, including tunnels in the City of David and ones near the Sultan's Pool beside Mount Zion in Jerusalem.