Remote sensing for rainwater harvesting in Mediterranean agriculture

Since time immemorable, farmers in the Mediterranean have collected surface runoff, using various types of 'water harvesting', which is the collection of surface runoff mainly for agricultural and domestic purposes. Water harvesting can be a valuable technique to supplement the other sources of water for irrigation. However, the selection of appropriate sites and the determination of suitable methods of water harvesting on a large scale present great challenges, since the necessary data on hydrology, soils, etc are often lacking. A research work at ICARDA, Aleppo, Syria was aimed at developing a methodology for the application of remotely sensed data and GIS for identifying appropriate sites and methods of water harvesting in dry areas in West Asia and North Africa. A pilot project site was selected in central Syria, covered by a whole LANDSAT TM scene. The image processing software ERDAS IMAGINE and GIS software ARC/INFO were used to process the images and to establish a gee-information system. Using these tools it was possible to identify areas generally suitable for water harvesting and to determine water harvesting techniques for those sites. The developed methodology is also applicable in other regions with similar conditions. When heading for the application of water harvesting techniques, sustainability concerns have to be paid due attention to.