Managing Prosperity
The Aghlabids in Kairouan built water reservoirs designed to collect rainwater from the nearby valleys.’
The health and wealth of society depends to a large extent on good management of resources, such as food and water, and efficient government. Many engineering solutions were devised by the Abbasids to maintain and improve their agricultural systems and water resources, while medical advances helped to improve the health of the population. In Kairouan, for example, in 248 / 862, the Aghlabids built a series of water reservoirs designed mainly to collect rainwater from the nearby valleys. Their ingenuity lay in the fact that they devised the means to collect water, purify and store it, and then make it available to the inhabitants of the city, herdsmen of the area and caravans passing by: all free of charge.
Aghlabid Reservoirs

Hegira 248 / AD 862
Abbasid
Kairouan, Tunisia
This reservoir is composed of two pairs of circular basins. About 15 similar reservoirs originally surrounded the area outside Kairouan. In addition to rainwater, water from the tributaries of the Merguelil Valley was directed into them.