Irrigation

📖 In short

Irrigation means watering land and crops using methods people have made, in places with little or no rain. Irrigation water comes from rivers, lakes, dams and wells, and is carried to the fields in channels and pipes.

🤩 Did you know?

The ancient people of Mexico and Peru used irrigation about 2800 years ago.
The Egyptians farmed the banks of the Nile about seven thousand years ago.
Some big dams store huge amounts of water for irrigation.
Most of the world's fresh water is used for farming.

🔎 Find out more

🌟 Irrigation in the past

The first civilizations grew up beside rivers like the Nile, the Tigris and the Euphrates, because people dug channels to carry river water to their fields. The Egyptians used the “shaduf” to lift water from the river.

🔍 Waterwheels and aflaj

Long ago people built machines to lift water, like the saqiya turned by animals, and the huge waterwheels of the Syrian city of Hama. In Oman, channels called aflaj carry water from the mountains to the villages.

💡 Drip irrigation

In modern drip irrigation, thin pipes run beside the plants and drip water drop by drop right at their roots, saving lots of water. This is very important in dry countries.