Mesopotamia : An Uncontrolled Water Supply

Mesopotamia : An Uncontrolled Water Supply

The farmers who moved to Sumer faced many challenges. One of the biggest problems was the uncontrolled water supply.

During the spring, rain and melted snow from the mountains flowed into the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, causing them to flood across the plains. Unfortunately, no one could be sure exactly when the floods would come. If it happened after farmers planted their crops, the young seedlings would be washed away.

Life in Sumer ....

For much of the rest of the year, Sumer's sunbaked soil was dry and hard as stone. Hot, strong winds blew thick layers of dust across the ground.

Faced with such dramatic seasonal changes, farmers were constantly struggling to raise crops with either too little or too much water. In order to grow food, they needed a way to control the water so they would have a reliable water supply throughout the entire year.

Multiple Choice

When there is not enough rain, farmers need to find a way to artificially water their crops. This is called .... ?

• sanitation

• irrigation

• rumination

• mutation

Finding Water

Therefore,  Sumerian farmers began creating irrigation systems for their fields. They built levees along the sides of the river to prevent flooding.  When the land was dry, the farmers poked holes in the levees, allowing the water to flow through the holes and into the thirsty fields.

Poll

These irrigation systems were built 5,000 years ago. Are you impressed with what these ancient farmers could do ?

• I'm very impressed

• I could have done better

Using What They Learned ....

Over time, the Sumerians learned other ways to control the supply of water. They dug canals to shape the paths the water flowed. They also constructed dams along the river to block the water and force it to collect in pools they had built so that they could store the water for later use.

Multiple Select

Which of these were things that Mesopotamian farmers used to control water in their region ?

• levees

• canals

• faucets

• irrigation systems