Rainwater Harvesting Techniques Applied to Some Iraqi Zones

Abstract

Iraq, the home of two great rivers, Euphrates and Tigris, has faced a sever shortage on its surface water resources on the years 1997-2002. The shortage due in part to the Turkish implementation of (GAP) project which includes number of dams and diversion tunnels which results in larger share of the two rivers water for Turkey on the expense of Iraq, and, in part to the recent drought that the middle east has experienced. Such situation calls for exploiting all the possible water resources of which rainwater constitute an important component.
This paper concentrate on evaluating the potentials of rainwater that can be harvested and distributed over different geographic zones of the country, and on the suitable techniques used to collect and store the harvested water. These techniques are site specific and designed to meet local people preference as well as geological, topographical, hydrological, and economical requirements…