2. Chapter Headings
Drinking Water for Early Civilizations
Early Irrigation and Flood-Control Projects
Early Water Transportation Development
Early Hydropower Development
3. What is Civilization?
For civilization to emerge you need
Agriculture
Cities
“Leisure time” to develop skilled workers
Among the key features are
Ability to manage water
Suitable soil and climate for agriculture
4. Managing Water Resources
Even in the earliest civilizations we can find evidence
of water management
Delivery of drinking water to cities using qanats and
aqueducts
Routing of wastewater out of cities
Delivery of water for agriculture through irrigation
Transportation
Hydropower
5. Drinking Water for Early Civilizations
Earliest civilization centers emerged in:
Mesopotamia along the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers
(Iraq)
Indus River (Pakistan)
Yangtze River (China)
Nile River (Egypt)
Greek and Roman empires (Mediterranean)
7. Qanats
Qanat system developed in Mesopotamia area
From a Semitic word meaning “to dig”
Semitic: subfamily of Afro-Asiatic language family that
includes Hebrew and Arabic
Delivered ground water by gravity from an upland area
where it was plentiful to a lowland agricultural areas
and cities
8.
9. Bam, an ancient city in
Iran was hit by an
earthquake in December
2003
13. Aqueduct
Roman empire developed an extensive system of
aqueducts to deliver surface water by gravity to cities
Water was delivered to fountains and baths where
citizens collected and used it
Allowed cities to grow in size
Reduced amount of time that individuals (usually
women) spent obtaining daily water
14. Women at a stream
collecting water to
carry to their village in
Cameroon
UNESCO
www.wateryear2003.org
19. Coaca Maxima (main sewer) for ancient Rome
Example of routing wastewater away from cities
http://courses.washington.edu/tande/urb/
20. Wind Gap Pumping Plant, Tehachapi Range north of LA
California Aqueduct
21. Drinking Water Today
Supplying drinking water is still an important function
today
Many problems
Water quality (bacteria, carcinogens, heavy metals, etc.)
Water quantity (competition with agricultural for water)
Waste water treatment
We’ll discuss these in later chapters
22. Chapter Headings
Drinking Water for Early Civilizations
Early Irrigation and Flood-Control Projects
Early Water Transportation Development
Early Hydropower Development
23. Early Irrigation and Flood Control
Civilization centers developed where soils were fertile
For soils to be fertile nutrients must be collected and
deposited in an area so that they become concentrated
Flooding deposits rich mountain (volcanic) soils in river
floodplains
Glaciers deposit rich mountain soils at their terminus
and in wind blown loess
24. Early Irrigation and Flood Control
Floodplains are often in dry areas that require
irrigation
Nile River civilization is a good example
Sediments from the mountains of Ethiopia and Sudan
are deposited in the floodplains of Egypt
Ancient Egyptians developed an elaborate irrigation
system for Nile floodplain
29. Early Irrigation and Flood Control
Yangtze River was another river floodplain where
civilization developed based on fertile soils and
irrigation
Annual rainfall varies between 5 and 32 inches
History of devastating floods
Construction of levees to control flooding
31. Early Irrigation and Flood Control
During the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) chief water
administrator in China advocated construction of
huge stone levees along rivers
Thought that confining flow of river in channel
would cause faster flow and scour a deeper
channel, ultimately reducing flooding
Same theory was being applied along Mississippi
River up to 1927 flood disaster (Rising Tide by John
Barry)
33. Early Irrigation in the U.S.
Hohokam Indians near present day Phoenix developed
large-scale irrigation system in the Salt River basin in
800 AD
Anasazi Indians developed irrigation systems in
Southwest desert region around 950 AD
41. Early Irrigation in the U.S.
Brigham Young and Mormon followers began
extensive irrigation system in Salt Lake Valley of
Utah in 1847
Region receives 15 in of annual rainfall
Constructed diversion dams across rivers and
diverted water into irrigation ditches
Small diversion dams were made of logs, rocks and
brush
Irrigation ditches were made using horse-drawn plows
and hand digging
42.
43. Early Irrigation in the U.S.
Construction of an irrigation ditch was not simple
A ditch too steep would cause fast flow that would erode
the ditch and wash it out
A ditch that was too flat would not move water
Rule of thumb was a fall of about 2 feet per mile
44. Early Irrigation in the U.S.
Homestead Act passed in 1862
Opened the floodgates of development in the West
Anyone over the age of 21 could acquire ownership of 160
acres if
Lived on it for 5 years
Made improvements to the property
Cost was $1.25 per acre
Water for irrigation became a critical issue
46. Early Irrigation in the U.S.
In 1870’s Horace Greeley, editor of NY Tribune
promoted settlement in the West with the phrase “Go
West, Young Man”
Time was ripe for western migration
Civil War ended in 1865
Transcontinental railroad completed in 1869
Organized a settlement in Colorado (today called
Greeley) to replicate the irrigation successes of
Mormons in Utah
47.
48. Early Irrigation in the U.S.
Late 1800’s was a period of unusually wet weather
in West
As normal rainfall returned many settlers without
irrigation water were forced to abandon their land
and move into town to work in other professions
Drought period in 1930’s forced more settlers to
abandon land and become migrant workers
Described in “Grapes of Wrath” by John Steinbeck
50. Irrigation Today
Irrigation today is extensive in western U.S. and other
areas of the world
A number of associated problems
Competition for water with urban sources
Salinization of soils
Sedimentation of reservoirs
Effect on stream flow and water quality
Will discuss these in later chapters
51. Chapter Headings
Drinking Water for Early Civilizations
Early Irrigation and Flood-Control Projects
Early Water Transportation Development
Early Hydropower Development
52. Early Transportation Development
One of the reasons civilization centers developed near
rivers is these were the “interstates”
River and canal systems used for boat traffic
Nile and Yangtze River are examples
Later extensive canal system developed in Europe
58. Early Transportation Development
Erie Canal constructed 1817-1825
Connected Buffalo on Lake Erie to Albany on Hudson
River
363 miles
Cut travel time from 20 days to 6 days
Cut transportation costs from $100 to $5/ton
Ohio & Erie Canal connected Ohio River to Lake Erie
59. Check Google map to see full extent of St. Lawrence River
http://www.google.com/maphp?hl=en&tab=wl&q=
64. Early Transportation Development
Mississippi River has been through history and
continues to be a major transportation system for U.S.
Before steamboats keelboats and flatboats were used
to move produce down river
After steamboats developed (1810) traffic ran up and
downstream
Army Corps of Engineers responsible for clearing
snags
70. Water Transport Today
Water transportation not as critical today due to
rail and trucking industries
Still a source of conflict
Navigational needs vs. urban and agricultural use of
water
In 2003 Corp of Engineers released water from Lake
Lanier and lower lakes to float barge traffic at Columbus
Later that year drought conditions caused record low
lake levels
We’ll discuss this in later chapters
71. Chapter Headings
Drinking Water for Early Civilizations
Early Irrigation and Flood-Control Projects
Early Water Transportation Development
Early Hydropower Development
72. Early Hydropower Development
Water wheels were used to grind grain as early as
100 BC in Greece
Until the time of steam engines, water mills were a
major source of energy
By 1800 there were 500,000 water mills in Europe
Mills ground corn and wheat, powered bellows
and hammers to make iron, ground ingredients for
paper, cut wood, and powered textile mills
73.
74. Rock Run Grist Mill, Susquehanna State Park, MD
overshot mill for grinding corn
81. Early Hydropower Development
With the invention of the light bulb by Thomas
Edison in 1879 hydropower began to be used to
generate electricity
One of the first generating plants was built at
Niagara Falls to supply electricity to Buffalo NY
Designed by George Westinghouse
Hydropower production peaked in the 1940’s when
it provided 1/3 of electricity consumed in U.S.
84. Niagara Falls (right), American Falls (left), and Bridal Veil Falls
(small falls just to the right of American Falls)
Hydroelectric plant was to the left of American Falls?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niagara_Falls
85. Two inlets above the fall diverted water into canals (right photo # 1 & 2); water
flowed down canals to power houses (left diagram)
http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/exhibits/panam/sel/electricity.html
89. Hydropower Today
Hydropower is still important but ability to transmit
electricity is making some dams less critical
Movement to remove dams in some cases
Focus on environmental impact of dams on fish such
as salmon
We’ll discuss this in later chapters
90. Chapter 1 Summary
Management of water resources has been a hallmark
of civilizations throughout history
Water managed to provide drinking water, irrigation,
flood control, navigation, and power
Although we’ve been managing water for centuries,
many old and new problems now confront us
91. Chapter 1 Quiz
1. Name four purposes for which water resources
have been managed through history?
2. Name three early centers of civilization.
3. What were mills used for historically?
4. What is required for soils to be fertile (rich in
nutrients) in the absence of fertilizers?
