In the book Kuwait by the First Photographers, William Facey and Gillian Grant write that, “Kuwait as a whole was a place with absolutely no natural resources–until, of course, the discovery of oil in 1938.” With no permanent rivers, Kuwaitis got their water from the Shatt al-Arab that arrived on dhow ships or from the freshwater wells outside of town.

The pictures above were taken in Hawally and Abraj Park, a popular place to see some of the water towers and where Qout Market has been held.

In her work on Sheikh Mubarak, Souad al-Sabah writes that at the turn of the century, “a major social problem was the lack of fresh water, people traditionally relied on fresh water from wells outside the city walls, which was transported into the city on the backs of donkeys… wells were in Al Shamiyya, Hawalli, Keifan and Al-Nogr. In 1904 the Christian priest Anastase Al Karmali wrote, ‘there is not a single river in Kuwait. They drink from pools and wells.’ In 1909 Kuwait started importing water from the Shatt Al-Arab. In 1914 Sheikh Mubarak purchased first water-purification plant from a British company for 25,000 rupees.” Oil was discovered in 1938 and shipments began in 1946, dramatically changing the country. In the early 1950s, the first modern seawater desalination plant was opened in Kuwait.

An old postcard seen on Delcampe

In the 1960s and 70s, the iconic water towers were constructed. According to this article, “Kuwait City’s 31 water towers are now an iconic part of the cityscape. Commissioned in 1965 to connect seawater distillation plants to the city, the towers were to replace the antiquated water distribution system, which required tankers to deliver the water directly to consumers. The Amir of Kuwait specified that they were to be not only functional, but stand tall as architectural and artistic landmarks.

These photos come from this website

The daftar article continues, “the five groups of towers were completed in 1976, each holding 3000 cubic meters of water. Every set of towers differs in height, color and ornamentation, becoming a distinct landmark in their own right, though they all have the same fundamental design. Swedish architect Suni Lindstrom — who dubbed the resulting structures ‘mushroom towers’ — chose this design to ensure the towers would cast shade on the ground below, where landscape gardens were planned as public spaces.”

The first two images above were found on eBay, the second two on Delcampe

According to UNESCO the Kuwait Towers are part of, “a nation-wide network of infrastructural water supply and reservoirs which consist of 31 more water towers (known as the mushroom towers) that are strategically distributed in groups around the country, and are connected to the distribution grid of the two already built distillation seawater plants. This ambitious national project was part of the country’s large scale modernization process undergoing since the first shipment of oil in 1946, and essential to ensure an effective system of water distribution to a growing population, until then supplied by tank trucks.”

Above are pieces by Dana Al Rashid depicting the water towers.

According to the International Database and Gallery of Structures, “the huge, mushroom-shaped water tanks… seen from afar thanks to their blue and white stripes… are 38.5 m high and have diameters of 32 m at the upper rim of the water tanks. This way, the tanks can store more than 2.4 million litres or 650,000 gallons of fresh water.” Maha Alessa posted stories on her instagram surveying the locations of the water towers, distributed throughout Kuwait. The maps comes from “An overview of Kuwait’s water resources” by A. Akber and A. Mukhopadhyay and this website.

The daftar article continues, “an additional sixth site was constructed in 1979: a trio of towers now known as the ‘Kuwait Towers.’ Instead of the characteristic mushroom shape, the Kuwait towers are all needle-shaped, and two of them feature spherical orbs. These spheres are decorated with blue, green and gray steel plates – apparently chosen ‘to imitate the mosaic surfaces of Islamic domes.’ The design brings together local and global motifs – as ‘the Muslim minaret and the mighty moon missile merge in a single architectural expression.’ The water towers won the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 1980.” I have a separate post about the Kuwait Towers here. Here are some older photographs of the towers. They come from the MIT Library, Dennis Hurd, a family member who visited Kuwait in the 1970s, this flickr album, this flickr album, Hartmut Walter, Kuwait by John Feeney, an album cover, a video from 1988, National Geographic, this website, the book “Kuwait” by Ralph Shaw, the website of Mohammed Alkouh, and ebay.

These water towers are in Sabah Al Ahmad Sea City. The drawings come from this website. The final map comes from this post about the, “water fountains offering passersby free cooled water.”