Would Da Vinci Have Been an AWWA Member?

from Breeze Issue 195, Fall 2023

Anoka Water Keeps Up with City’s Growth

By Mona Cavalcoli

You can take me out of the country, but you can’t stop me from thinking about water.” While on vacation in France at the beginning of May, I definitely unplugged from my day-to-day work, but my mind was still drawn to things related to water. I was constantly trying to pull off the road to take pictures of French water towers; and I startled my dad by shouting out “that’s my water utility!” as we were passed by a Veolia service truck while driving in Normandy (I would have tried to snap a picture had I not been driving!).

I also had an unexpectedly water-rich experience while visiting Chateau Clos de Luce, where Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) spent his final years. My dad and I spent a few days in the Loire Valley, which you may know as home to some of France’s most magnificent castles, or ‘chateaux.’ As my dad and I both love science, art and history, we elected to visit Leonardo’s home, and explore the museum and park there, which features life-sized replicas of Leonardo da Vinci’s inventions. I knew he was a prolific artist, architect and inventor, but even I didn’t realize the scope of his work related to water.

“Leonardo was fascinated by the properties of water at both the micro and macro level, and accurately described the hydrological cycle— the endless loop of evaporation, condensation and precipitation that binds our global water supply.”1 Many pages of the Codex Leicester a compilation of Leonardo’s writings, focus primarily on the earth and its waters – this codex is almost totally dedicated to an indepth study of a sole theme: the study of water.

“Currents, whirlpools, waves, heads, canals, banks, locks, dams, tunnels, projects for docks, for land reclamation, lists of machines for making use of the energy supplied by water and projects for the use of water for military purposes, take up most of the illustrations, accompanied by texts dense with theories, propelling that great

Would Da Vinci Have Been an AWWA Member?

leap forward which science was to make from the Renaissance on.” He recognized the relationship between flow speed and pressure in water, principles that underlie airplane wings and venturi injectors. (In turn, the inventor of the venturi tube, Giovanni Venturi, turned the world’s attention to Leonardo as a scientist –not just an artist – in 1797).1

I was amazed by the number of drawings, writings, and inventions that illustrated how ahead of his time Da Vinci was. In the Chateau itself, we were able to see small scale versions of his work, including:

• a model of his work connecting a water wheel to an Archimedean screw to draw water

• a drawing and model of a hydraulic turbine

• a drawing and model of a machine to pump water and empty bilge in a ship

• scuba gear, flotation devices, and even shoes to walk on water

• models and machines for motion, including the precursor to modern cars, helicopters and parachutes

• models and machines for war, including a tank, machine guns, and giant crossbows

The time we spent exploring this fascinating history made me think about the impact it has had on the world of water that we now inhabit. Fundamental tools and machines that are part of how we treat and deliver water have their origins in the knowledge-seeking minds of those who walked centuries before us. And while we focus much of our attention on new products, techniques, services, or technologies that will shape the future of things, what knowledge and experience should we take from the past? And how will we shape the minds to come centuries after us?

I hope you’ll take my thoughts of the history of water and then I encourage you to take time to read about Water2050 and AWWA’s initiative to think and strategize about the future of water. We can marvel and appreciate the past – but we have only one choice, and that is to move forward into the future.