I wanted to ask, forgive me if I am being naive, but in using a trompe system the height is needed to generate pressure. But couldn't the same be done by forcing the water down the pipe at speed, like a large weight on a board or something similar to force the water through the pipe and reduce the height needed? I have seen very old copies of Compressed Air magazine from the 19th century and cities like Paris were almost entirely run on compressed air. Cars, buses, trams, underground trains, machinery, refrigeration, everything. Does anyone else know about this. ?
Also, the Romans were great engineers, right. But why would they stick water in aquaducts 100ft plus up in the air unless it was to drop the water down again? Otherwise they would have settled for a few feet above the ground or as much as was needed to create flow.And we know they built massive structures, like the civilizations before them. It doesn't make sense to me to go through all that work with their architectural engineering if the returns are minimal such as water in housing etc.
