TRADITIONAL WATER HARVESTING SYSTEMS AND MANAGEMENT IN WADI HADHRAMOU YEMEN

Wadi Hadhramout, a key area for agricultural production, is located in Southern East of Yemen . Yemeni civilization had prospered in an area where water is the most limiting factor. Traditional methods of water resources control, storage and delivery including soil erosion prevention, rainwater harvesting, and irrigation and drinking water-delivery structures, some of which have survived for many centuries. This indigenous knowledge has neither been well documented nor scientifically analyzed in order to utilize it for supporting the sustainable development of rain-fed runoff and spate irrigated farming. In some areas the water management and water rights are known as the Habits (ALAADAT) which other areas sometimes use these habits to solve unprecedented problems in water management and water rights in these areas. A long experience in water harvesting and management as well as the maintenance of the irrigation structures systems are nearly to be disappeared and no record is known for this experience. During the period 1970 - 1990 of the Communist Regime in the Southern Governorate, the agricultural land was taken from its owners and distributed to others, thus participated in the negligence of the traditions. After the Unity the lands were returned to its owner. Also after the unity water acompanying oil add other problems. It is of most important to find out the water management experienced in the water harvesting agricultural areas and test the possibilities to get lesson from it to improve water harvesting.