Barada

Barada river in Damascus. the water level is uncharacteristically high in this view from the spring of 2009

Typical water level of the Barada in recent years

The Barada (Arabic: بردى‎‎ / ALA-LC: Baradá) is the main river of Damascus, the capital city of Syria.

Etymology

"Barada" is thought to be derived from the word barid, which means "cold" in Semitic languages.^[1] The ancient Greek name (Greek: Χρυσορρόας, translit. Chrysorrhoas, means "streaming with gold").^[2]

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 27 kilometres (17 mi) 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 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) from Zabadani. The Barada descends through a steep, narrow gorge named "Rabwe" before it arrives at Damascus, where it divides into seven branches that irrigate the Al Ghutah (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.^[3] The river has also suffered from severe drought in the last decades, mainly due to the lower rainfall rates and the large increase in the population in the area.^[4] It also suffers from serious pollution problems, especially in the summer, where there is almost no flow and little water in the basin.

Biblical mention

Barada is identified as Abana (or Amanah, 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 (2 Kings 5:12). 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 Banias river, retains a trace of Abana.^[5]

John MacGregor, who gives a description of them in his book Rob Roy on the Jordan, affirmed 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.^[5]

Gallery

• 
  The upper valley of the Barada in the Anti-Lebanon Mountains 1855
• 
  Barada river 1868
• 
  Barada river about 1930
• 
  Barada river near the Citadel of Damascus 2006
• 
  Ayn Fījah
• 
  Annotated view of Barada and Damascus with surroundings, as seen from space in 2013

See also

• Ghouta
• Water resources management in Greater Damascus

Notes

References

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Abana". Encyclopædia Britannica. 1 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 6. 

External links and further reading

• Before Vanishing, a 2005 documentary short about the decline of Barada (French titles, no narration).
•  Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). "Abana". Abana. Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls Company. 
• De Chatel, Francesca (January 2008). "A Drought in Eden". Syria Today. 

Coordinates: 33°30′48.75″N 36°18′18″E / 33.5135417°N 36.30500°E / 33.5135417; 36.30500