The evolution of the major achievements in water lifting devices with emphasis on the major technologies over the centuries is presented and discussed. Valuable insights into ancient water lifting technologies with their apparent characteristics of durability, adaptability, and sustainability are provided. A comparison of the relevant technological developments in several early civilizations is carried out. These technologies are the underpinning of modern achievements in water engineering. They represent the best paradigm of probing the past and facing the future. A timeline of the historical development OPEN ACCESS

Nowadays, available water resources face severe pressures due to demographic, economic, social causes, environmental degradation, climate change, and technological changes on a global scale. It is well known that rainwater harvesting, a simple and old method, has the potential to supplement surface and groundwater resources in areas that have inadequate water supply. In recent decades, many countries have supported the updated implementation of such a practice to confront the water demand increase and to reduce the frequency, peak, and volume of urban runoff. These considerations motivate interest in examining the current situation and the prospect of further development of this method worldwide. The present paper aims at the investigation of the current situation of rainwater harvesting (RWH) as an alternative water source to confront water scarcity in various countries around the world. In particular, the paper presents the following: (a) the causes of water shortage; (b) a concise historical overview of the temporal development of the RWH method; (c) the evolution of the concept of RWH; (d) the efforts to renew interest in RWH; and (e) incentives and perspectives for the spreading of the RWH method in various countries worldwide.

Abstract:Although there is evidence of surface-based storm drainage systems in early Babylonian and Mesopotamian Empires in Iraq (ca. 4000-2500 BC), it is not until after ca. 3000 BC that we find evidence of the well organized and operated sewer and drainage systems of the Minoans and Harappans in Crete and the Indus valley, respectively. The Minoans and Indus valley civilizations originally, and the Hellenes and Romans thereafter, are considered pioneers in developing basic sewerage and drainage technologies, with OPEN ACCESS Sustainability 2014, 6 3937 emphasis on sanitation in the urban environment. The Hellenes and Romans further developed these techniques and greatly increased the scale of these systems. Although other ancient civilizations also contributed, notably some of the Chinese dynasties, very little progress was made during the Dark ages from ca. 300 AD through to the middle of the 18th century. It was only from 1850 onwards that that modern sewerage was "reborn", but many of the principles grasped by the ancients are still in use today. This paper traces the development of the sewer from those earliest of civilizations through to the present day and beyond. A 6000 year technological history is a powerful validation of the vital contribution of sewers to human history.

The uneven temporal and partial distribution of water resources in Hellas, and especially southeastern regions, has resulted in the construction of various water systems for collection and storage of rainwater, since their very early habitation. Ever since, technologies for the construction and use of several types of cisterns and other relevant hydraulic strictures have been developed. The main diachronic achievements in rainwater harvesting and use in Hellas from the earliest times of humankind to the present is studied. Emphasis is given to the periods of great achievements such as the Hellenistic and the Roman. The major necessity of water justifies not only the innovations found throughout the historical time-line of these constructions but also the most advanced engineering of each era applied to these constructions. Also, the importance of this hydrotechnology and the concept of the value of water-saving to present and future times is considered. Aspects referring to hygienic precautions for the purity of the water collected and stored are another issue that is worth examining.

Agricultural developments require changes in land surface and subsurface hydraulic functions as protection from floods, reclamation of flooded land, irrigation, and drainage. Drainage of agricultural land has a long history and apparently traces back to the earliest civilizations of Mesopotamia and Iran before 4000 BC. In the Eastern Mediterranean, the Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations developed techniques and strategies of drainage of agricultural lands from the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. After the collapse of the Aegean Bronze-age civilizations, society building and agricultural innovation in the archaic and Classical periods (ca. 800–300 BC) included successful attempts at controlling drainage and irrigation techniques. In addition, China, India, and Mesoamerica have extensive histories of drainage. The aim of this review paper is to trace the evolution of the main foundings on agricultural drainage technologies through the centuries until the present. This historical review reveals valuable insights into ancient hydraulic technologies as well as irrigation and drainage management that will help to find bright horizons for sustainable agriculture in future.

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Sanitation and hygiene technologies have existed in ancient Hellas since the Bronze Age (ca. 3200–1100 bc), when extensive sewerage and drainage and other elaborate sanitary structures were known in Minoan palaces and towns. Classical and Hellenistic periods should be considered as the most progressive eras in the design of sanitary engineering. At that time anatomically shaped toilet seats are found in several sites since many private houses and public buildings have them. As cities grew in size the pressure of larger populations resulted in the construction of communal toilets with seats that were more densely packed together. Drainage and sewerage systems and sanitary installations reflect high cultural and technological levels and they are associated with contemporary observations and ideas about hygiene and medicine. Before the Hellenic advances, medicine was entirely confined to religious beliefs and metaphysical rituals. In the early Roman period, the knowledge of the ancient world on hygienic matter was incorporated in legislative rules. Despite the weakening of this legislation through the ages, the sanitation practices kept being applied even via a technical tradition of the masons. Later various rulers of the Hellenic world (Europeans or Ottomans), introduced their practices (traditional/scientific) sanitation in the greater Helladic regions.

Water movement in unsaturated soil is described by Richards' equation, which is strongly nonlinear and cannot be solved analytically. For this reason numerical methods such as finite difference and finite element methods have been used to solve it. This paper presents another numerical solution of Richards' equation, based on the finite control volume method. This method has important advantages over other numerical methods, such as conservativeness of the system and flexibility of the grid intervals. To validate the numerical model a series of experiments were carried out in the laboratory in a vertical column of unsaturated two-layered soil (coarse and fine sand). The upper boundary condition was a second kind or Newman one and the lower boundary condition was a third kind or Newton's law condition. The soil water content was measured using the k-ray absorption method, while the water pressure in the pore media was measured using a tensiometer system with ceramic cups and pressure transducers. KEY WORDS: finite control volume; water mass balance; drainage; infiltration RÉ SUMÉ Le mouvement de l'eau dans un sol non saturé est décrit par une équation aux dérivées partielles, appelée l'équation de Richards, qui n'accepte pas de solutions analytiques, mais seulement numériques: différences finies et éléments finis. Ici une nouvelle méthode numérique est presentée, basée sur les éléments de volume de contrô le. La nouvelle méthode présente certains avantages par rapport aux autres en ce qui concerne la conservation de la masse et la flexibilité du maillage. Le problème physique étudié dans le laboratoire sur une colonne de deux couches de sol, présente deux conditions aux limites différentes: à la surface de la colonne une condition de Neuman, tandis' que en bas de la colonne une condition d'aération ou de la loi de Newton. La mesure de la teneur en eau s'est faite par gammametrie et le dispositif des mesures tensiométriques comprenait des tensiomètres et des capteurs de pression. Les résultats numériques de la nouvelle méthode sont en bon accord avec les points expérimentaux.