Water Fountains in Beni Farah (Ah Frah)

"We made from water every living thing" Quran 21:30

• The List
• Gueddili watering cycle
• Thafoughalt watering cycle
• Water drillings In Beni Farah: 1988 - 1993

First comes the list from north to south:

- Thit n Yij: It's up in the peaks of the north, always running.

- Th'ghasra: very small and usually used by shepherds.

- Thit n Tazzart: At the entrance of the village from the north.

- Thaawint n'Alou Rahmoun: completely dry since the 1980s.

- Liana: dry since the 1990s.

- Thafoughalt: dry completely on the 1990s, flows back temporarily whenever there is plenty of rain.

- Thaawint n' Gueddili: Used to be the main water spring but dried during the 1990s. Recovers during rainy seasons; its water is also pumped out through an electrical pump.

- Mazzer: ever running spring; badly polluted during the 1980/1990s but rehabilitated recently.

- Folka: dry since the beginning of the 1970s and never recovered again; few young people know of its existence.

- Ain Sh'ka: an ever running spring but shamefully polluted by sewage.

- Thasharsharth n'Alou Mahra: little known; almost dry since the 1990s.

- Thikhlileen: an ever running spring; probably polluted by sewage.

- Foonta: dry by the end of the 1980s; recovers during rainy years.

- Fedden Sder: usually dry for the last decades.

- Thaalo B'aija: shepherds' spring and small but ever running.

- Ain l'Gat: dried on the 1970s; recovers briefly during rainy years.

For Beni Farah water pouring from fountains is a matter of survival. Because rain is not frequent, most of the grown crops and fruit trees rely on regular irrigation by a large network of waterways (see "Textes Berberes de l'Aures (parler des Ait Frah)" by Andre Basset for a historical point of view). This extensive water distribution system is largely based on three main fountains: Ikhf Ounsouf, Thafoughalt and Gueddili. Smaller farming areas like Liana and Ain l'Gat have their own independent fountains although the water debit is far smaller. Ikhf Ounsouf supplies the whole upper part of Beni Farah (i.e., Ah Menee3 or Tizi). Thafoughalt irrigates the areas of Thifoughaline, Lakhnak, Mazzer, Liana and Laakabth. This covers an area relatively larger than that of Ikh Ounsouf. It is however far smaller than what the fountain of Gueddili covers which extends from Gueddili down to Feddan Sder including Ikhf Nath Sawent, Ighzar, Djebalwa, Laak'beth, Bellala, Kasha and Melwedh. Usually cemented irrigation ditches connect fountains to small reservoirs (laghdhir) used to collect water at night for distribution later at daylight. Both Ikh Ounsouf and Thafoughalt have one reservoir whereas Gueddilli serves three larger reservoirs: one in Djebalwa, one in Laakabeth and the other in Foolka. Waters of Mazzer, Thikhlileen, Ain l'Gat and Liana are also collected in small reservoirs called thaghdhirth (thighthireen for the plural). Remarkably the small fountains of Mezzer, Ain Sh'ka and Thikhlileen have resisted all the drought cycles and continued running whereas the main fountains (i.e., Ikhf Ounsouf, Thafoughalt and Gueddili) have succumbed. Ain l'Gat and Foonta go with the mood of the rain and rarely stand the heat of the summer. Other less known fountains have gone, it seems, forever like Foolka, Ah Rahmoon, and the tiny Thasharsharth n'Alou Mahra.

Although committees of Farhi farmer as well as the authorities funded numerous drillings in search of water. In 6 years between 1988 and 1993 alone the state water agencies initiated 14 drillings of depth up to 200m. Unfortunately the results have been disappointing as little water has been found to this day.

Mazzer, Ain Sh'ka and the less known Thasharsharth n'Alou Mahra springs

For each fountain the water debit is distributed between landlords according to specific watering cycles called ishamsaggen (ashamsi for the singular). In the case of Gueddili a cycle has fifteen days whereas it has twenty days for Thafoughalt. Each day in a cycle has a name and a list of landlords that have the right to water at that day along with the allocated quotas. The watering time is specified in terms of the number ofthimashouline (singular: thamashoult, i.e., quarter of an hour) a landlord owns. This may differ from season to season (i.e., winter or summer quotas). Water allocations are a general indication of the importance of a land and can be traded with land or separately.

Gueddili watering cycle

It consists of 15 days divided between three groups of five days each (Ah Athman, Ah Znag and Ah Ahmed) as follows:

- Amazwaru n'Ah Athman (the first of Ah Athman), Wissan n'Ah Athman (the second of Ah Athman), Wislatha n'Ah Athman (the third of Ah Athman), Wisrabaa n'Ah Athman (the fourth of Ah Athman), Anaggaru n'Ah Athman (the last of Ah Athman).

- Amazwaru n'Ah Znag (the first of Ah Znag), Wissan n'Ah Znag (the second of Ah Znag), Wislatha n'Ah Znag (the third of Ah Znag), Wisrabaa n'Ah Znag (the fourth of Ah Znag), Anaggaru n'Ah Znag (the last of Ah Znag).

- Amazwaru n'Ah Ahmed (the first of Ah Ahmed), Wissan n'Ah Ahmed (the second of Ah Ahmed), Wislatha n'Ah Ahmed (the third of Ah Ahmed), Wisrabaa n'Ah Ahmed (the fourth of Ah Ahmed), Anaggaru n'Ah Ahmed (the last of Ah Ahmed).

Thafoughalt watering cycle

The cycle is made of 20 days and names are much harder to remember. They are:

Aith Frah, Temmam, Mimoun, Abdellah, Yazidi, Ben Omar, Nacer, Ziri, Bouslama, Ah Algadhi, Dhissidhi dheen, Amazwaru n'Ouhabbas, Wissan n'Ouhabbas, Thalmidha, Ah Mansour, Oussardhoun, Ben Abdellah, Fawtaamrane, Ben Zoulay, Boulaabed.

Water drillings in Beni Farah: 1988 - 1993

The following is a table of drillings made in Beni Farah in search of water (Source: Agence de Bassin Hydrographique (ABH), an agency of the Algerian Ministry of Water Resources). Only state-funded works are included here. A considerable number of other drillings have been financed by farmers with contributions depending on each farmer's water quota.

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