[smnscu]

I've just recently this video on the engineering of Venice: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77omYd0JOeA -- relevantly, it shows how they devised an "active" drainage system that relied on the tide movement (both vertical and horizontal). The timestamp for waste management is 7:45, but I recommend watching all the video.

[cturner]

I found the part about clay cisterns fascinating (6:40). Does anyone know the trade-offs about lining the outside of cellar walls with a thick layer of clay. Would it be effective to pour a slab foundation onto a thick layer of clay? Or, to have a thick layer of clay, and then a few feet of gravel, and to pour a slab onto that?