The lack of a resource as basic as water can put any civilization in check. You only need to see what happened, for example, in the south of the Iberian Peninsula during the rule of the Roman Empire. According to research led by experts from the University of Almería, during this period there were several periods of extreme drought that ended up putting the inhabitants of that time on the ropes and that, in turn, forced them to adopt extraordinary measures to survive in the absence of water resources.
The study, published this week in the journal ‘Scientific reports’, has focused on analyzing sediments from the Zóñar lagoon. This space is located in what we now know as the province of Cordova and with its more than 16 meters deep it is considered the deepest lake in all of Andalusia. As explained by those responsible for this work, the analysis of the isotopes present in the sediments allows us to draw what this space was like during the Roman Empire and how, throughout this era, it was modified to address severe water shortages.
The lack of water resources forced the Romans to take extraordinary measures to obtain water
Irregular rains
To understand this story, let’s start at the beginning. Between the 2nd century BC to the 5th century AD, just when the Romans expanded throughout the Peninsula, The rainfall regime in the Mediterranean region suffered several ups and downs. While at some moments the rainfall was conspicuous by its abundance, at others it dropped drastically. It is estimated that in some periods up to a 20% less rain compared to times like the current one where, once again, records indicate that we are once again on alert due to the impact of an extreme drought.
According to the analysis led by the researcher Fernando Gázquez-Sanchezthe lack of rain during the Roman rule of the Iberian Peninsula became one of the main Threats to cities and agricultural areas. Hence, the inhabitants of the most affected areas, such as the Andalusian region, were forced to look for extraordinary methods to bring water to the cities and to water the fields.
In periods of scarcity, water was diverted from natural streams to Roman villas.
One of the measures that was implemented consisted of divert the water that came down from the streams and that fed humid areas such as the Zoñar lagoon in Córdoba. For this they were built large hydraulic infrastructureswhich were deployed in a wide network of canals and cisterns, to divert water resources from natural springs to Roman villas. The lack of rain and the diversion of water caused this lake to end up barely three meters deep and with waters much saltier than today.
Environmental impact
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The construction of this hydraulic network to divert the few waters from natural spaces towards human infrastructure also stands out as “one of the first examples of human environmental impact on aquatic ecosystems in the Iberian Peninsula.” During that time there is also evidence of activities with high environmental impact such as, for example, metal mining, deforestation and the intensification of fires.
The history of these eventsand especially the drought that once affected the Roman Empire, helps to understand to what extent a civilization can be affected by the poor state of ecosystems and natural resources. Of course, what happened centuries ago has nothing to do with what we live today. The drought of Roman times, for example, was the result of natural climate variability. The current one, however, is directly attributable to the climate crisis unleashed by our species after more than a century of greenhouse gas emissions. The difference is that in this case, if we continue like this, the world will experience increasingly severe and recurrent droughts and the lack of water could become a chronic illness.