One of the first major aqueduct projects in the United States, it was commissioned by the U.S. Congress in 1852, and construction began in 1853 under the supervision of Montgomery C. Meigs and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The Union Arch Bridge, which carries a portion of the aqueduct, is also listed as a Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.

The centerpiece of the Aqueduct is a 12-mile (19 km) pipeline that connects the system's dam at Great Falls with the Dalecarlia Reservoir on the border with Montgomery County, Maryland.

[1]: 68  The pipeline runs along what is now MacArthur Boulevard, traversing some of the higher cliffs along the Potomac River.

By the turn of the 20th century, however, Washington's growth and the high amount of sediment in the Potomac's water kept the reservoirs from doing their jobs well, and so the first treatment plant, a massive slow sand filter bed system, was installed at McMillan Reservoir, and was completed in 1905.

Additional pipes were built as Arlington's population grew, including one under the Potomac River.