For thousands of years floods have been used for a natural water cycle...
The
Nile river in Egypt has been a source of life for over 5000 years. Through the
times farmers have made good use of the floods. Although the flood is annual the
actual timing and height of the flood is not constant. Houses where built up high
to escape the majority of the flood. They were built at least 500 meters from the
banks of the river. This way they did not use up the land which could be used
for agriculture. To seperate each field, small walls of earth were built. This
trapped the water in the basin like feild as it retreated. Small ditches were dug
for drainage. In ancient times when the flood waters were low, modern
inventions were made to lift the water onto the field for irrigation.