ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with the way in which limited supplies of drinking water affect the distribution of settlement, the way of Ufe of the people concerned and consequently the use that can be made of the land. In discussing ways of life in the area it is convenient to consider four categories the nomadic, the transhumant, those who resort to local movements for their water supplies and those who are fully settled. Even today, despite modern improvements in water supplies, only 20 per cent of the area's villages are found here, and settlements are often small, isolated and lacking in amenities. Improved water supplies have accelerated immigration and over 40 per cent of the settlements in the area have been formed in the last fifteen years. The clay plains have been the principal theatre for the most dramatic development in man-water relations in the history of this area.
