The lack of spring water was a constant problem in Chandax. Throughout the city this led to the sinking of numerous wells and the construction of public and private cisterns for the collection of rainwater.
Large public cisterns serving the needs of the town guard and the citizens were located at the St. George barracks, the Palazzo Ducale, the Church of St. Titus and near the shipyards at the harbour.
In addition to the above, hawkers brought water from Katsambas and sold it in the city streets. In the face of any enemy threat, one of the city administration's foremost concerns was to build and repair water cisterns.
Marble well heads now on display in the Historical Museum of Crete, 2003 (photograph: Vassilis Kozonakis)
Kalokairinou Ave in the time it was Phaistou St., a bustling commercial thoroughfare, 1900 (R. Behaeddin, No 77, Vikelaia Municipal Library, Heraklion)
The sebil that once stood in the Platia Strata (now Kalokairinou Ave.) (R. Behaeddin)