Now that you have all the key components in mind for creating your irrigation pond, it’s time to learn why irrigation is an invaluable piece of technology today.
Irrigation can be used to maintain landscapes, grow agricultural crops, and revegetate soils in dry areas or during periods of below-average rainfall. Irrigation can also have other uses in crop production such as frost protection, weed growth prevention in grain fields, and stopping soil consolidation in its tracks.
History
Irrigation systems are also frequently used for dust suppression and cooling livestock as well as in mining. Irrigation has been a prominent feature of agriculture for well over 5,000 years across a multitude of cultures. Historically, irrigation was the basis for societies and economies around the globe, ranging from Asia to Africa to North America.
Archaeological investigations have discovered evidence of irrigation in cultures that lacked the amount of natural rainfall needed to grow crops thousands of years ago. The earliest known use of irrigation technology dates to the sixth millennium BCE in the southwest of present-day Iran.
Irrigation began around the same time in Mesopotamia and Egypt by using water from the flooding Nile and Tigris/Euphrates rivers. From July through December, these rivers flooded nearby areas and were diverted to surrounding fields for one to two months. After, the water was drained back into the river at the perfect phase of the growing cycle.
Since the annual flood season near the Nile was unpredictable without records, the Egyptians designed a flood gauge known as the “Nilometer.” In its simplest form, the Nilometer was a vertical column that had been submerged in the river. This column marked intervals that indicated the depth of the river as it shifted throughout the year. A later design used a flight of stairs that led into the river. The Nilometer’s data was used by the ancient Egyptian priesthood to predict when the next flooding would occur.
Irrigation was also used as a means of controlling water in the alluvial plains of the Indus valley. Their application of irrigation technology is estimated to have started around 4500 BC. This technology dramatically increased the size and prosperity of the culture’s agricultural settlements. In fact, the Indus Valley Civilization developed highly sophisticated water storage and irrigation systems, with artificial reservoirs and early canal irrigation systems dating back to 2600-3000 BC. As time went on, large-scale agriculture became more widely practiced, and an extensive network of canals was used across the alluvial plains for the purpose of irrigation.
