Influence of Ancient Mesopotamian Aesthetics of Gardens/Parks and Water Installations on the Development of Landscape Architecture

Based on the information from fundamental historical sources, the oldest origins of civilization can be found in the river valleys of the Tigris and the Euphrates. Throughout Mesopotamia important routes of trade and migration of peoples followed, which influenced the emergence and development of one of the world’s first urban-type civilizations. It was here that the Sumerian civilization evolved, leading to a major cultural and technological breakthrough. Their widely used irrigation canals influenced not only the landscape, but also the entire ecological, economic and political systems of the time, water being a particularly important factor in this civilization. The oldest known gardens have also expanded here, and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon still fuel people's imagination. Due to its unique geographical location, the region has had a profound impact on the surrounding nations, and it is no accident that the Assyrian Imperial Parks of Northern Mesopotamia exerted a great influence on the civilizations that followed. Undoubtedly, ancient Mesopotamia occupies a fundamental place in the development of garden art. With the growing use of roof gardens and the use of plants in modern architectural constructions as an extremely important tool for composition, it is worth exploring more closely the origins of this landscape-relevant process.

Benefits of Menaming Dams and the Potential of Irrigation Canals as a Source of Power Generation

The difficult location access and a small population can cause lack of electricity from PLN (State Electricity Company). One alternative that can be done is to use irrigation canals as a source of generation. In this study explained the social conditions of the community, the function of dams for the community and the potential of irrigation canals as a source of power generation. A case study was conducted in the Menaming Village in Riau Province. Menaming dam is one of the dams that have two main irrigation channels that can be used as a source of power generation. A quantitative descriptive method was used in this study. The results of the survey conducted by observing directly, questionnaires and data collection showed that Menaming dam was very beneficial for the Menaming’s community. Menaming dam is used as a source of water for rice fields and community ponds, access to community plantation land, fishing grounds and as a tourist attraction. Based preliminary study in Menaming dam was discovered the hydraulic water power in irrigation canals amounted to 1,330 watts. Therefore, it can be used as a source of power generation to meet the electricity needs of a simple house.

Geographical Distribution of Biomphalaria pfeifferi snails in East Africa

There is limited information on the distribution of B. pfeifferi, an important snail intermediate host of schistosomiasis, in East Africa. This study assessed the incidence and geographical distribution of B. pfeifferi snails in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. Maximum Entropy modeling was used to predict the potential distribution of B. pfeifferi snails, in line with habitat suitability. Malacological surveys were then conducted guided by MaxEnt predictions and information obtained from previous research papers. The surveys were conducted at a total of 156 sites including streams, rivers, lake shores, dams and irrigation canals over a 3 year period (2018 to 2020). Geographical coordinates, ecological and physicochemical information was recorded for the sites visited. Snails were identified morphologically, based on shell characters using established identification keys. B. pfeifferi snails were found at 23.07% (36/156) of the sites sampled. Streams proved to be the habitats most preferred by B. pfeifferi snails (50% of all of the sites where the snails were found were streams), followed by rivers (20.6%), irrigation canals (8.8%), lake shores (8.8%), springs (5.9%), and dams (5.9%) with snail abundance increasing with increase in temperature and decrease in water depth. B. pfeifferi was found in the Lake Victoria basin, Mwea Irrigation Scheme and Eastern Province of Kenya, the Lake Albert region, Lango region, Soroti district, Lower Moshi irrigation scheme, Babati district, Iringa region, Tabora region and Kigoma region. Information on the distribution of B. pfeifferi in East Africa will aid in developing prevention and control strategies for schistosomiasis.

La distribución tradicional del agua del río Turia entre las acequias de la Huerta de Valencia: Un sistema de origen bajomedieval

The water of the Turia river has been traditionally distributed in the Huerta of Valencia among eight irrigation canals through a system of 138 filas, a measure of water capacity which nature is not clear. It is also unknown what is the historical origin of this system of water division and this is what we study in this article. Thomas F. Glick defended that it was a system of Andalusi origin, and proposed a reconstruction of the original system based on time shifts, but we try to demonstrate that this proposal cannot be correct, especially because it is based on a wrong interpretation of the nature of the row. Subsequently, we provide an alternative proposal on the origin of the distribution system in 138 filas that is based on the proportionality between the amount of water that each irrigation canal has and the amount of land irrigated by each hydraulic system, concluding that the distribution system of the Huerta de Valencia can only have been established shortly after the Christian conquest of the thirteenth century, when the Huerta was greatly expanded and rebuilt. Finally, we conclude that this is another evidence of the great changes that took place in irrigated cultivation spaces of Andalusi origin after the Christian conquests, contrary to what had been said so far.

Impact of Increasing Pumping Discharge on Groundwater Level in the Nile Delta Aquifer, Egypt

The main goal of this research is to develop a 3D groundwater (GW) model using MODFLOW software to assess the potential effect of increasing pumping discharges on GW level in the Nile Delta Aquifer (NDA). In this study, the current state of the irrigation canals and GW recharge are considered in the GW model. The simulated GW level was compared with the observed GW level for model validation. Three vertical cross sections in western central and eastern areas of the ND are selected to check the impacts of GW pumping on variations of GW level. Ten scenarios of increasing the abstraction rates in all areas of the ND are tested. The results confirmed that increasing the pumping discharges has a substantial effect on decreasing the GW level in central and southern areas of the NDA. In addition, the tenth scenario is considered the last case where the drawdown of GW level reached 1.32, 1.59, and 2.41m in the southern boundaries. The findings of the study should be considered when studying the management of GW resources and the impacts of climate change on the ND.