Disused blocked cistern caps are a dominant feature in the urban scene of the courtyards and alleyways in the Jewish neighborhoods. These cistern caps are remains of the large public water resevoirs, built at the 19th century, beneath the countryards. The rain water, channeled from the rof gutters into the cisterns, The water cisterns provided the residents with the only water supply until the early 1920s, when British authorities laid the infrastructure for a municipal system of running water. Me’a She’arim Neighborhood, 1874.