HYDROLOGY

The Nabataeans, highly skilled in harnessing water in arid regions, created intricate systems of channels, cisterns and other features to direct water from the surrounding desert into the thriving city of Petra. These systems not only supplied water for domestic use, but also stored water in areas of scarcity, irrigated their fields, guarded against flash floods, and protected their meticulously sculptured façades and tombs and monuments from environmental degradation.

Natural disasters and the passage of time meant that this hydraulic system gradually deteriorated which has left the monuments and today’s visitors at risk from flash floods.