Water management in Malta during the medieval millennium

Abstract

This chapter attempts an overview of water management and harvesting techniques utilised in Malta during the medieval millennium, from c. ad 500 to 1600 and is based on field and archival research carried out by the author of this text during the past quarter of a century. The use of both perched aquifer and mean-sea-level water sources are discussed in this chapter. However, it must be pointed out that until the nineteenth century, the principal mode of water extraction in the archipelago came from the Upper Coralline Limestone perched aquifers. Prior to the mid-nineteenth century, the dynamics of the mean-sea-level aquifer were not properly understood and whenever utilised, this was done on a purely accidental basis. Disparities in the ground water potential of different regions of Malta and Gozo led past inhabitants to respond differently to the geologic and hydraulic reality they were presented with. Areas of north and north-west Malta have a higher percentage of easily accessible water sources than central and southern Malta. In this respect, this chapter will illustrate how whereas the Rabat (Malta) area and north of the island was geared for irrigation-based agriculture, centred on the utilisation of a series of perennial water sources, settlement and agriculture in central and southern Malta heavily relied on rainwater harvesting in cisterns. However, there were instances where localised perched aquifer sources in Globigerina Limestone deposits were detected and successfully tapped.