From our studies ...

Most places don’t get enough rain to support agriculture and must have irrigation methods. In some places, they get too much water and experience floods and must build dams, reservoir, and levies. Most civilizations need some form of hydraulic engineering. Water is also important for culture. We use water not just for drinking and growing food, but also for bathing, leisure, and ritual.

Mayan culture was at its peak between 250-900 CE. It was centred in the Yucatan Peninsula, in what is now modern day Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. Water management was key to their success.

Most of the Yucatan Peninsula is a Karst Plain, made up of limestone bedrock. Most of its water is underground, in caves and caverns. Rainfall is heavy and seasonal. When the rain comes, it comes all at once and quickly disappears underground. There were very few streams, rivers, and lakes above ground. The Mayans built underground reservoirs and cisterns to capture rain water and canals to transport the water. They built aqueducts, dams, and bridges to deal with flooding.

All this water management required a lot of labor. Mayan art had a lot of water motifs. It is possible the authority of the ruling class, and its priests, depended on their ability to manage water resources. Mexico is prone to drought because of El Niño, and this would have made the political and religious power of the elites precarious. Cities would have fallen in times of extended drought, and this may have been the cause of the Mayan Civilization’s downfall.

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