Rome's most important fountains are drying up after the 2,000-year-old Roman-built underground aqueduct that supplies them was smashed by workmen laying foundations for a garage. The 18th century Trevi fountain and Bernini's Fountain of the Four Rivers in Piazza Navona are no longer being fed by the 13-mile "Virgin" aqueduct after concrete foundations laid in the city's exclusive, outlying Parioli district crashed into a buried section of the ancient channel, creating a three-metre gash and blocking it with rubble. "It looks like the builders were not paying attention," said a spokesman for ACEA, the water company controlled by the city of Rome. "They went straight into an original Roman section of the aqueduct and we are looking at 45 days of repair work." Of the four fountains supplied by the aqueduct, two - one in Piazza Colonna and another next to the Senate - no longer have water flowing. The flower beds of the Villa Borghese park, also irrigated with water from the aqueduct, are at risk. Bernini's 17th century masterpiece in Piazza Navona, where figures represent world rivers, is drained for repairs so is not currently affected, and a recycling system means water is still gushing temporarily below the winged horses and trumpeting cherubs at the Trevi fountain. But the fountain's 20 metre-wide trough, where Anita Ekberg famously waded in La Dolce Vita, is scheduled to have its water replaced in four days, after cleaners under police guard move in for their regular raking up of the thousands of coins lobbed in by tourists. Before its encounter with 21st century garage builders, the Virgin aqueduct has flowed almost continuously since 19BC, when, according to legend, thirsty soldiers of the general Agrippa were shown a secret spring south east of Rome by a girl, hence the aqueduct's title.