reconnaissance flights; and in Dhofar, the Wali, Minister of State, and Directorate General of Water Supply and Transport. The report was the work of James W. Aubel, W. Donald Davison Jr., Charles G. Graf, James R. Jones, and Keith G. Kennedy, five experienced hydrologists working under the direction of William W. Doyel, who had previously been employed by the Office of Water Data Co-ordination of the US Geological Survey. It summarises current knowledge as a first step towards drafting a long overdue countrywide strategy. It covers Musandam (Graf), Batinah (Graf), Northern Oman Mountains (Davison), Wahibah Sands (Jones), Huqf (Jones), Bajada (Aubel), Central Plateau (Aubel), and Southern Oman (Kennedy). Doyel’s introduction sketches, inter alia, hydrological principles for non-experts and explains that further reports are needed to build a dynamic picture over time, highlighting changes in use and future challenges. The findings reveal much not only about geography and climate, but also about the adaptation to change of traditional livelihoods. In Musandam, date groves used 15 cubic metres of water a year mostly from dug wells at the coast, whereas water for domestic use inland was collected in birkats (cisterns), while the many small gardens and date groves depended on surface runoff (p. 26). Increasing demand from farms in Al Batinah is exhausting traditional shallow dug wells. Aflaj, traditional irrigation channels, are used in the mountains, although there is growing need for wells (pp. 42 & 60). While it is possible to go almost anywhere on foot or by camel in the Wahibah Sands, the lack of wells had constrained movement and grazing, and pick- up trucks carrying water increased the range for foraging (p. 62). Sparsely populated Huqf was “populated mainly by Bedu. The only village worthy of the name is Duqm”; similarly thinly settled Masirah Island was the site of an airfield (p. 64). Groundwater at Bajada was underused and mainly utilised aflaj. Oil company use here was unknown “but locally is important” (p. 74), while on the Central Plateau it was unknown but believed to be small (p. 78). Use in Southern Oman was generally poorly understood, and better knowledge was necessary with several new regional centres developing (p. 87). The highly informative loosely inserted maps show data acquisition sites and (in colour) generalised hydrogeology on a national level (both 1:1,250,000), while the regional maps and sections show hydrologic areas, water quality, drainage basins, assumed groundwater flow patterns, and rainfall, hydrographs show individual wells, and aflaj discharge. The additional regional reconnaissance study, made by a local team lead by an experienced US Geological Survey alumnus gathers the findings of a survey that took place between February and July 1984 and gives a clear idea of how work would have continued to build on the lines laid down by the Preliminary Assessment. 2 volumes, octavo; the first contained in a red leatherette folder (310 × 220 mm), lettered in gilt, opening to show 2 pockets, one containing the report itself bound in red card wrappers lettered in gilt, the other holding loose maps and sections; the second-named wire stitched in wrappers, text in English, includes an abstract in Arabic. First with colour portrait frontispiece of Sultan Qaboos, bound in together with 21 folding maps, sections and graphs, diagrams to the text, the other pocket containing 14 loose folding sheets with 22 maps, sections and diagrams, as called for (2 measuring 700 × 930 mm, the rest 600 × 840 mm); the subsidiary study with the same portrait frontispiece, numerous plates from colour photographs and maps and drawings to the text, folding sheet with two figures loose in the end-pocket. The first item very good indeed, the second a little rubbed on the wrappers but presenting well; presentation inscription to the title page, evidently from Pipiringos, largely obliterated. £7,500 [159483]
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Sultanate of Oman: Public Authority for Water Resources, February 1984 and July 1985 highly significant situation report on omani water supply First and only editions, extremely scarce and important, both classified as “Confidential”. The high production values of this flagship document suggest that it was prepared for senior policy makers, VIPs and leading departmental experts. An institutional search cites just two locations for Hydrology (the library of the Geological Society of London and the Bibliothèque de Géographie, Sorbonne) and four only for the Reconnaissance Study (Geological Society and additionally Colorado School of Mines, New Mexico State University, and the US Geological Survey National Center). The regional importance of the exercise is strongly stressed: “The science of hydrology is still in its infancy . . . Nowhere is there adequate hydrologic information for long-term development and management of the water resources. Certain areas have been and are being intensively developed . . . without adequate knowledge . . . At the same time other areas with development potential are not being utilized” ( Preliminary Assessment , p. 88). Oman’s Public Authority for Water Resources (PAWR) was formed in 1979, with five district offices (in Sohar, Seeb, Nizwa, Mudhairib, and Salalah) to gather data, monitor, report and advise. Studies had been done since the late 1960s (such as Alexander Gibb’s in Northern Oman in 1974, which expressed concerns about the serious deterioration of the water quality in the Al Batinah region due to experimental farms), but these were piecemeal. For this preliminary assessment, PAWR depended on wide cooperation: from the Ministries of Electricity and Water, and Agriculture and Fisheries for data; local Walis via the Ministry of Interior for drilling; the Police and Ministry of Defence for
All items are fully described and photographed at peterharrington.co.uk
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