Historical review on Water Harvesting in Jordan

Water harvesting, defined as the collection and storage of rainwater with productive purposes, has been progressively considered as an effective as well as sustainable solution to problems related with the increasing water scarcity. Various forms of water harvesting have been traditionally used throughout the centuries, especially in the Middle East. There, some of the earliest agriculture examples were based on techniques such as diversion of "wadi" flow (spate flow from normally dry water courses) onto agricultural fields. For example, in Jordan, the Jawa and Umm El-Jimal water harvesting schemes were established 6000 and 2000 years ago, respectively. Moreover, they are considered as the most ancient water harvesting schemes, as well as the engineering design and techniques used in those schemes are unique. Thus, standing the great and fundamental Jordan technical heritage, this study has the main objective of providing an historical review of the water harvesting structures present in Jordan. Furthermore, the adaptation of the engineering techniques used in the ancient schemes to the newly established structures, could provide a mean to deal with the increasing water scarcity in the area, as well as water supply for the most populated regions invested by fluxes of refugee people. FAO (2016) realised an assessment of water harvesting techniques in Jordan focusing mainly on dams, pools and ponds. The aim of the present review is to extend the research in order to set the ground for a complete database.