Food Sources: Earth, Water, and Air - Food Culture and Health in Pre-Modern Islamic Societies - page 63

Regulations on water distribution
In Anatolia and Rumeli, where water
supply was generally adequate for agri-
culture for 9-10 months out of the year,
fixed regulations for water distribution as
in Iran and in the Fertile Crescent were
not-common. In the dry regions of the
central and eastern Anatolian plateau,
and during the summer months starting
from July, certain regulations were worked
out for the distribution of available water
sources among individuals. Such arrange-
ments, stemming from pre-Ottoman
times, were particularly common in the
neighbourhood of large towns where
numerous orchards and gardens were to
be found. According to the observations
of modern geographers, in certain parts
of Anatolia where traditional methods
survived, the organisation of water distri-
bution was dictated by shortages of water
both regionally and seasonally, by the
extension of irrigated agriculture, or by
aggregation of population. As to sharing
of spring water between several villages,
there was usually no formal regulation,
unless recurrent disputes forced the gov-
ernment to intervene as an arbiter and
to work out regulations. Such disputes
usually appeared as arguments over the
use of pasture lands, and it was the āī 's
court which was responsible for settling
them in accordance with the ª arī rules,
as was the case with all matters involving
water distribution. This explains the lack
of universally-applied regulations enacted
by the government.
As a general policy, the Ottomans
avoided imposing regulations on water
use, and abolished preexisting taxes and
dues on water. In some districts, the Otto-
mans retained older regulations for dis-
tribution of water, for irrigating gardens
and fields, and for water supply to the
city. In the province of aramān, where
the Ottomans found the most developed

system of water distribution for urban
areas, a mīr-āb or superintendent of water
was chosen to supervise the application
of these regulations. To distribute water
according to the provisions of the ª arīa
regarding the a- ª urb , right in the use
of water, and ª ufa , or pre-emptive right,
was the mīr-āb 's responsibility. To ensure
complete equity, the mīr-āb appointed,
with the approval of the community, sev-
eral mutawallī s who oversaw the distribu-
tion of the shares. He was also assisted by
ª āgird s who performed the work during
the actual irrigation process. The regula-
tions tried to prevent various abuses, such
as taking water out of turn by bribing
the mīr-āb and others, which reflect the
acute competition between the users of
water during the summer months. Each
user of distributed water paid a fixed fee
to the mīr-āb , who acted as tax-farmer for
the government. The function of mīr-āb ,
apparently originally a Persian institution
was performed in other parts of Anatolia
sometimes under the name of su a ∞ as .
Ewliyā Čelebi made the remark that, if it
were not for the su a ∞ as , the populace
would have murdered one another.
As to the techniques used in harnessing
water, the Anatolian peasant usually used
the simple method of channelling water
from the rivers through ¶ ar s or ar s,
but the methods of drawing up water by
means of animal-powered wheels or dōlāb s
and small dams were used.

City water systems
The supply of water to the towns was
the second main area of concern for the
Ottomans. The Ottoman water system in
the towns before 857/1453 has not been
studied. However, it is known that after
the conquest of Istanbul the Ottomans
developed quite a sophisticated water sys-
tem for the city, and applied this system
too in other cities in the empire, notably