@Hussar: I agree that it would be more plausible for Waterdeep to be located a few miles to the east on the banks of the Dessarin River.
I assume that the Dessarin irrigates the farmland around Waterdeep to the extent it needs additional irrigation beyond rainwater. No aqueduct needed, just regular flood management like levies and such feeding excess water to irrigation wells around the area, reducing the effects of flooding right around the river, and feeding some of that good river sediment enriched water to surrounding farmlands.
It’s named for its deep water harbor.
I know. That doesn’t change that it’s funny that the city itself does not roll deep with water.
Does the 3.5e City of Splendors book cover this at all? Those older edition books are known for detailing every little nook and cranny of a setting.
Otherwise, perhaps someone with a Twitter account can ask Ed. He’s pretty good about answering. He once gave me a pretty comprehensive rundown of Waterdeep‘s weather, for instance. Alas, I no longer have a Twitter account.
EDIT: check out posts 12 and 16 in this Candlekeep forum thread:
Candlekeep Forum - How does Waterdeep get fresh water?
I do find the cold seawater bathing odd. Why not just…pump seawater up to bathes? There were folks in European history who bathed every day or close to it during the Middle Ages, like most “viking” cultures. To the point where native British men complained that these foreign men were stealing the women by being so dang clean and well groomed.
I also definitely run Waterdoop as having running water toilets and public baths that even the poor can reliably use pretty frequently, and I recently ran the city as building infrastructure to clean the harbor and turn the city’s waste into fertilizer using a system invented by an alliance between the Tinker’s Guild, the Architects Guild, a contingent of Lantannan Gnomish engineers and alchemists, and the Emerald Enclave.
Basically I guess I think Waterdeep works really well as the most advanced city in Western Faerun.
To address Waterdeep specifically, one thing unusual about that city it is it is built upon a major connection to the Underdark. The Underdark has plentiful fresh water and is below sea level. Indeed it extends for hundreds or thousands of miles under the ocean.
So the proper question we should be asking is "why doesn't the ocean drain into the Underdark?"
I’m sure it does, in places. But IRL there are freshwater sources under sea level, near the sea, so I’m sure a geologist could tell us the answer.
Same place as the populations' food. The author forgot.
He
definitely didn’t.
Tbh I am always confused as to why on Earth Waterdeep needs Druidic help feeding people. They don’t have fish and crabs and such in the water? The Desserin valley doesn’t produce excess food for trade?
If the Waterdeep area is like Western Washington, it should be extremely good for keeping livestock and growing both food and trade crops.
I guess I’ve always seen the Dessarin Valley as a mix of northern Cali and the Central Valley before the water table was depleted, so I think of it as “breadbasket” territory.
