[IceFire]

Never heard of such things happening. And we have a good number of water purification facilities, the problem is that the pipes for water transportation have so many leaks that we only get one third of the original amount of water And nobody cares about fixing the pipes.

So the Romans developed urban water distribution systems more advanced than anything that would follow for hundreds of years afterwards...and yet modern Italy can't even fix a few leaks?  Ouch.

Might also be important to note that the population of Italy (or Europe...or the World) was significantly smaller.

[Mobius]

That's not the point... as far as I know, only Rome had advanced infrastructures. Of course, many other Roman cities could have had something similar, but "Rome comes first". I think that most Roman cities were...normal under this point of view.

[Mongoose]

Might also be important to note that the population of Italy (or Europe...or the World) was significantly smaller.

Considering the fact that the population of the city of Rome at the height of the Empire is estimated at somewhere between a half-million and a million people, it really wasn't much smaller than most modern cities. 'Twas in jest, though.