The Barada ( / ALA-LC: Baradā) is the main river of Damascus, the capital city of Syria.
Etymology
The word "Barada" is thought to be derived from the word
barid, which means "cold" in Semitic languages.
The ancient Greek name (), means "streaming with gold".
Topography and source
Throughout the arid plateau region east of Damascus, oases, streams, and a few minor rivers that empty into swamps and small lakes provide water for local irrigation. Most important of these is the Barada, a river that rises in the Anti-Lebanon Mountains and disappears into the desert. The Barada flows out of the
karst spring of
Ain al-Fijah, about north west of Damascus in the Anti-Lebanon Mountains, but its true source is Lake Barada, a small lake that is also a karst spring located about from
Al-Zabadani. The Barada descends through a steep, narrow
Canyon named "Rabwe" before it arrives at Damascus, where it divides into seven branches that irrigate the
Ghouta (الغوطة) oasis, the location of Damascus. Eventually the Ghouta reached a size of 370 square kilometers, although in the 1980s urban growth started replacing agricultural use with housing and industry.
[ Note: text doesn't have permanent URL. Click "Land, Water, and Climate" at link.] The river has suffered from severe drought in recent decades, mainly due to the lower rainfall rates and the large increase in the population in the area.
It also suffers from serious pollution, especially in the summer, when there is almost no flow and little water in the basin.
Biblical mention
The Barada is identified as
Abana (or
Amana, in Qere and Ketiv variation in
Tanakh and classical
Chrysorrhoas), which is the more important of the two rivers of Damascus, Syria, and was mentioned in the
Book of Kings (). As the Barada rises in the
Anti-Libanus and escapes from the mountains through a narrow gorge, its waters
debouch fan-like, in canals or
rivers, the name of one of which, the River
Banias, retains a trace of
Abana.
John MacGregor, who gives a description of them in his book Rob Roy on the Jordan, affirms that as a work of hydraulic engineering the system and construction of the canals, by which the Abana and Pharpar were used for irrigation, might be considered as one of the most complete and extensive in the world. In the Bible, Naaman exclaims that the Abana and Pharpar are greater than all the waters of Israel.
Branching
The Barada branches at the village of Hameh and the gorge of Rabweh into six distributaries or canals, two of which, Yazid and Tora, branch off the northern bank whilst the remaining four, Mezzawi, Derani, Qanawat and Banias, are formed from the southern bank.
The Yazid canal runs north to the districts of Salihya and Qabun; Tora, the oldest of all, passes through the district of Al-Jisr Al-Abyad, heading to Jobar and Harasta; Mezzawi tears through Mezzeh; Derani runs towards Darya; Banias runs by the National Museum north of the Citadel and reaches Bab Touma; and finally the Qanawat canal pours into the southern quarters of the old city following Via Recta.
Outside the city of Damascus, the water gathers to pour into the River Qleit, which runs to Eastern Ghouta.
==Gallery==
See also
-
Ghouta
-
Water resources management in Greater Damascus
External links and further reading
-
Before Vanishing, a 2005 documentary short about the decline of Barada (French titles, no narration).
