Harvesting rainwater has a very long history. The Bedouins practiced it in ancient Israel as was detailed by Michael Evenari in his book, "The Negev: The Challenge of a Desert." I read that book 35 years ago, and it has been one of my favorites ever since. Evenari describes the various methods the Bedouins used to harvest rainwater for domestic and agricultural use - by digging extensive canal systems on the slopes of hills to bring rainwater runoff to the cisterns that they had dug. In other cases in the Middle East, a channel system was used to divert water onto agriculture fields. The Bedouins are even one of the first people that used mulch to conserve water in their fields.  Continue reading →