Historically, the first cisterns (catchment systems) were dug in the Middle and Late Bronze Age (2200-1200 BC) in the Middle East. House cisterns date back to before 3000 BC in Jordan. Rainwater was collected in the first catchment systems during the short rainy seasons and lasted through at least one dry season. These cisterns provided water for home, garden, livestock, and agricultural purposes. It is thought that cisterns evolved from the use of natural rock holes to the digging of open cisterns and finally the construction of roofed-over cisterns excavated in rock.

Today people worldwide are, for the most part, dependent upon water supplies from the public sector via pipe systems. As a result, people do not have the immediate need to provide for their own water consumption nor do they necessarily think about where their water comes from. Currently in the United States cisterns can be found utilized in Hawaii and the U.S. Virgin Islands. In modern day Hong Kong, it is a common practice to have cisterns that collect and supply rainwater to skyscrapers.