Rainwater harvesting is an ancient practice. Many different cultures have used this technologyfor agricultural purposes.
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The Philippines have been using rain water for rice terraces for thousands of years now.
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Indian history indicates that rain water systems have been in use since 3000 BC.
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Usage can also be traced back 2000 years ago in Thailand and other parts of Southeast Asia, where simple gutters were used to fill jars and pots. ).
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There is evidence in the Mediterranean region of a sophisticated rainwater collection and storage system at the Palace of Knossos which is believed to have been in use as early as 1700 BC (Hasse, 1989).
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In Sardinia, from the 6th century BC onwards, many settlements collected and used roof runoff as their main source of water.
- The earth dams of ancient Egypt were used to control runoff.
- Ancient rain water cisterns can still be seen on the islands of Capri and Malta.
- There is evidence of the past utilisation of harvested rainwater in many areas around the world, including North Africa (Shata, 1982), Turkey (Ozis, 1982; Hasse, 1989), east and southeast Asia (Prempridi & Chatuthasry, 1982), Japan, China (Gould & Nissen-Peterson, 1999), the Indian sub-continent (Kolarkar etal, 1980; Ray, 1983; Pakianathan, 1989), Pakistan and much of the Islamic world (Pacey & Cullis, 1986), sub-Saharan Africa (Parker, 1973), Western Europe (La Hire, 1742; Hare1900; Doody, 1980; Leggett et al, 2001a), North and South America (McCallan, 1948; Bailey, 1959; Moysey & Mueller, 1962; Gordillo et al, 1982; Gnadlinger, 1995), Australia (Kenyon, 1929) and the South Pacific (Marjoram, 1987).
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In addition to rainwater harvesting, the Romans also used their systems as air conditioners.When the water evaporated, it created a cooling effect in the microclimate. As their populations started to increase, the Romans developed underground cisterns. This way, less water would be lost due to evaporation. They connected these cisterns to above ground poolsas a means of water filtration. When these pools overflowed, the cleaner water would enterthe cisterns. This design was an inspiration for modern day rain barrels. The Roman’s shallowpool mirrors the modern day roof washer or first flush system.
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The world’s largest cistern is the Yerebatan Sarayi, built by Caesar Justinian in 527 AD. It is located in modern day Turkey and is a popular tourist attraction. It is 140 meters by 70 metersbig and can store up to 80,000 meters³ of water. This huge structure is completely underground and involves a series of intersecting vaults.
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Binbirdik is another cistern in Istanbul, created by Caesar Constantine in 389 AD that can store 80,000 meters³. However construction of thesecisterns stopped due to the difficulty of building underground and the outbreak of human fecal contamination in large cities.
In the 1970’s, a new technology of rain water harvesting was developed where storm water was stored in well storage tanks in the form of different sized ponds. A thin layer of red clay was used to line the bottom of the pond to prevent seepage and trees were planted around the pond to prevent excessive evaporation. Over 40,000 of these systems were built in the Loess Plateaus of China.
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