Water In Our History
This space will allow us to know the influence of water on the history of our city, in its rooms we are explained in an entertaining and didactic way the different extraction methods, the bringing of drinking water from the s. XIX, as well as the new technologies that are applied for the capture, distribution and return to the environment, quality controls, leak search systems … At the beginning of the visit we will be able to access the “Pozos del Garrigós”, gigantic cisterns on the that there is no certainty of its creation. It is believed that at least one of them dates from the times of Muslim domination and while the rest could be from the 16th century. The four cisterns were designed to collect rainwater from the Benacantil slope, accumulating around 807,000 liters inside them and thus supplying the Alicante population. On the other hand, they also fulfill the function of reservoirs against floods, which frequently devastated the city, descending with violence and destroying everything that was in its path.
Wells of Garrigós
“Pozos del Garrigós”, gigantic wells of which there is no certainty of their creation. At least one of them is believed to date from the times of Muslim rule, while the rest could be from the 16th century.
They take their name from the former master builder Don Antonio Garrigós, they were configured with an irregular plant, crowning them with a brick factory opening mouths, overflows and vents. Its catchment area covers the 54,000 m2 that extend between the citadel and the walls. During the execution of the Parque de la Ereta, two more reservoirs were recorded, at higher elevations that completed this water complex. The water that accumulated was sold around the city in jugs, later channeled to lower levels. The steps that currently allow us to visit them are recent interventions, which corresponds to when the deposits lost their initial function. The only original openings are the curbs for the extraction of water and the door of the last cistern that allowed entry for cleaning periodically. In 1889, with the arrival of Aguas de Sax, the wells were no longer used as obsolete and unnecessary, but during the Civil War, they had a new use, as a bomb shelter.
