Handbook of Water Harvesting and Conservation

30Rainwater Harvesting Policy Issues in the MENA Region: Lessons Learned, Challenges, and Sustainable Recommendations

Muna Yacoub Hindiyeh¹, Mohammed Matouq², and Saeid Eslamian³

¹Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, School of Natural Resources Engineering and Management, German Jordanian University, Jordan

²Chemical Engineering Department, Al-Balqa Applied University, Amman, Jordan

³Department of Water Engineering, College of Agriculture, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan, Iran

30.1 Introduction

The most ancient practice to meet water supply needs is rainwater harvesting (RWH). In the 1970s, RWH received renewed attention, as it is a productive water source, water savings and conservation means, and sustainable development tool.

RWH has been used for drinking water and agricultural irrigation since 11 500 BCE in North America and 4500 BCE in Asia and the Middle East (Pandey et al. 2003; Mays et al. 2013; Ghimire and Johnston 2015). “Is there anything that thou hast seen under the heavens that is better than water?” Solomon said to the Queen of Sheba (Amos et al. 2016). It is an age-old water supply technology; communities in ancient India, Egypt, Jordan, and Rome were designed with individual cisterns and paved courtyards, which captured rainwater to augment supply from the city's aqueducts.

RWH plays a major role to meet increasing water demand and cope with climate change and variability. Other potential benefits of RWH include reduced impacts on the environment ...