The meskat system is a very ancient water harvesting technique that was already known and wide spread in the Roman era. This technique, which is typical for gentle slopes and low hills, is mainly found in the so-called Tunisian Sahel region, where a semiarid to arid climate with mean annual rainfall of about 300 mm prevails. The technique is an example for micro-catchment water harvesting techniques with relatively small catchment sizes. It is based on a catchment area or impluvium called “meskatâ€? and a cropping zone (“mangaââ€? or “mankaââ€?) (see figure 13). The impluvium, generally about 500 m² in size, supplies additional water to a series of downstream plots, which are enclosed by small earth bunds (about 20 cm) and connected by spillways for discharging the excess water. In general the surface of the impluvium should be twice the cropping area, thus the catchment to cropping ratio (CCR) is 2:1 (Achouri, 1994). By breaking the runoff the meskat technique also contributes to the recharge of ground water as well as to the decrease of floods and water erosion.

Figure 13: Meskat system (Source: Prinz, 1996 and Oueasser )