Among the peculiarities of karst settings, the scarce presence, or the lack, of water at the surface stands as one of the most typical. Water generally infiltrates underground very rapidly, or after a short path at the surface, taking advantage of the fissures and joints in the soluble rock mass, and starting to create the underground network of karst conduits and caves. As a consequence, at the surface there is typically shortage of water resources, which may become very severe during the dry season, or in conditions of low rainfall recharge. People settling in karst lands had therefore to face this problem since their first establishment. The only way to solve the issue of water availability was to acquire a very good knowledge of the landscape, not only limited to its geological and morphological features, but also including data and observations about the hydrogeological functionality of the land. For instance, the different behaviour of the same site, in response to rainfall events of different intensity and/or duration, as well as the time of withdrawal of water from flooded areas after heavy rainstorms, had in some way to be checked and controlled, in a sort of ancient monitoring technique, aimed at identifying those sites where the surface water could be kept for longer times close to the surface. Starting from these careful observations, and by the need not to waste any single drop of water in arid and semi-arid lands, ancient populations were able to develop several techniques to collect, transport, and distribute water, even at long distances. Still today, ancient hydraulic works, developing underground for long stretches, are preserved in good conditions, with many of them still in function. Since we are nowadays dealing with the search for sustainable use of the natural resources, we should look with great care to such ancient hydraulic works, in order to learn from the ability of ancient populations to use water resources, and possibly to re-evaluate the use of some of these structures.
Ancient structures for collecting and storing water in karst settings
Parise M
2016
Abstract
Among the peculiarities of karst settings, the scarce presence, or the lack, of water at the surface stands as one of the most typical. Water generally infiltrates underground very rapidly, or after a short path at the surface, taking advantage of the fissures and joints in the soluble rock mass, and starting to create the underground network of karst conduits and caves. As a consequence, at the surface there is typically shortage of water resources, which may become very severe during the dry season, or in conditions of low rainfall recharge. People settling in karst lands had therefore to face this problem since their first establishment. The only way to solve the issue of water availability was to acquire a very good knowledge of the landscape, not only limited to its geological and morphological features, but also including data and observations about the hydrogeological functionality of the land. For instance, the different behaviour of the same site, in response to rainfall events of different intensity and/or duration, as well as the time of withdrawal of water from flooded areas after heavy rainstorms, had in some way to be checked and controlled, in a sort of ancient monitoring technique, aimed at identifying those sites where the surface water could be kept for longer times close to the surface. Starting from these careful observations, and by the need not to waste any single drop of water in arid and semi-arid lands, ancient populations were able to develop several techniques to collect, transport, and distribute water, even at long distances. Still today, ancient hydraulic works, developing underground for long stretches, are preserved in good conditions, with many of them still in function. Since we are nowadays dealing with the search for sustainable use of the natural resources, we should look with great care to such ancient hydraulic works, in order to learn from the ability of ancient populations to use water resources, and possibly to re-evaluate the use of some of these structures.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
