At a time when droughts and increasing demands for water deepen the problem of water scarcity in the arid regions of the Mediterranean, it has become essential to assess the potential of traditional methods for harvesting and managing freshwater resources as a means of sustainable development where pure fresh water is becoming increasingly rare. The objectives of the SHADUF Project are to document the surviving traditional management and harvesting techniques in Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, Palestine, Jordan, Syria, Greece and Italy, and to assess the sustainability potential of those techniques, as well as the possibilities of conserving, restoring and valorizing them.

Map showing the Shaduf Project Areas

The Shaduf Project is coordinated by Maria Luisa Vitobello (EJTN, Belgium). The scientific management is under the direction of Pietro Laureano, (IPOGEA, Italy), and Fekri A. Hassan (CULTNAT, Egypt).

Partners include - Université Moulay Ismaïl, Meknes, Morocco (UMI), Universite Des Sciences et de la Technologie D'oran "Mohamed Boudiaf", Algeria (USTO), Sarl Societé Sud Timmi, Algeria (SUD TIMMI), Via Maris Consult Ltd., Palestine (VIA MARIS), Information & Communication Systems Ltd, Palestine (SIDATA), National Agricultural Research Foundation, Greece (NAGREF), National Center for Documentation of Cultural and Natural Heritage, Egypt (CULTNAT), Petra National Trust, Jordan (PNT), and IPOGEA, Italy.

Water flowing from a foggara, Adrar, Algeria (Photo Fekri Hassan)

Many countries around the Mediterranean are situated in arid and semiarid regions. In the Middle East and North Africa, as well as all along the Mediterranean, many areas receive less than 200 mm of rainfall with high evaporation rates. Many countries in this region face severe droughts, increasing demands for water, and deteriorating environmental conditions.

With the continued increase in demand and the prospect of climate change, conditions that are already critical are getting worse. This will have severe repercussions for internal economic and political stability. It will also have serious implications for population movements and displacement with stressful effects on neighboring countries across the Mediterranean. Every attempt must be made to ensure water availability using innovative approaches to water management. Among such innovative approaches is a re-deployment of traditional water harvesting and management tehcniques.

Such techniques have been overlooked in favor of modern technologies such as big dams and diesel water pumps. These new technologies have led in many cases to severe environmental problems and have in some cases interfered with the proper functioning of traditional water systems causing heavy economic losses and social instability in marginal areas where ecological conditions are fragile.

In order to redress these problems and as a means of alleviating current water shortages in such areas, the SHADUF PROJECT entailed investigations of a variety of traditional water management systems in different parts of the Mediterranean.