Historical background, productivity and technical issues of qanats

ORI GIN AL PA PER

Historical background, productivity and technical issuesof qanats

Ali Mostafaeipour

Received: 3 August 2009 / Accepted: 13 May 2010 / Published online: 10 June 2010� Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2010

Abstract In order to convey limited underground water in deserts or arid regions, Per-

sians have developed the qanat system for transferring water over long distances for

drinking and agriculture purposes. Qanats transfer underground water to the surface from

aquifers of mountainous or flat regions through one or more manmade tunnels. Water flows

inside the tunnels with a gentle slope that provides gravitational flow of underground

water. Water flows along the radius of an alluvial fan, which extends upslope until the

water table of the region is tapped and emerges at the down slope end to the surface

opening of the qanat. The demands placed upon natural ground water resources have

become excessive, therefore many countries believe in the qanat system of water transfer.

This study explores qanat history, development, geographical partition, rules and technical

issues.

Keywords Qanats � History � Development � Persia � Maintenance

Introduction

A qanat is a water management system used to provide a reliable supply of water to human

settlements or for irrigation in hot, arid and semi-arid climates. The technology is known to

have developed in ancient Persia (Beaumont and Bonine 2002; Wulff 1968a; Motiee et al.

2006) and then spread to other cultures, especially after the Muslim conquests, to the

Iberian peninsula, southern Italy and North Africa (Motiee et al. 2006). About one-third of

the world’s landmass is irrigated by groundwater; in the USA 45% of cultivated land is

irrigated by groundwater, while percentages for Iran, Algeria and Morocco stand at 58, 67

and 75% respectively. In some arid and semi-arid countries such as Libya or Tunisia,

groundwater is the only traditional source of fresh water for all purposes (Salih 2006).

A qanat is the system of discharging water from an upper land aquifer. It is a technology

from ancient Persia which exists in many countries.

A. Mostafaeipour (&)Industrial Engineering Department, Yazd University, Yazd, Irane-mail: [email protected]

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Water Hist (2010) 2:61–80DOI 10.1007/s12685-010-0018-z

During the past decades, there has been a significant increase in the use of groundwater for

irrigation particularly in India, the USA, China, Pakistan, Iran and Mexico which are reported

as the largest consumers of groundwater. Existence of qanats is important in the world,

because this system of exploiting underground water to the surface is the most sustainable

method which people have been using in many countries. It is not necessary to use any type of

machinery to get access to underground water and transport it to the surface.

Qanat irrigation is an ancient system of underground water channels where water flows

by gravity from the ‘‘mother well’’ dug into the water table. The water channel is

underground for a distance of a few hundred meters to a few kilometers before it emerges

from the ground at the ‘‘day light point.’’ The underground channel has a series of wells for

maintenance purposes. Water can be used for irrigation and other purposes mostly from the

daylight point onwards (Mustafa 2007; Nasseri and Tabatabaie 2005). In south-west Asia

and North Africa a major supply of fresh water is obtained from underground infiltration

tunnels known as qanats.

The word qanat, pronounced as kanat in Arabic and karez in Pashto is referred to by

different names in different regions: Qanat (Iran); karez (Afghanistan and Pakistan);

Fig. 1 Schematic diagram of a typical qanat

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kanerjing (China); qanat romani (Jordan and Syria); khettara (Morocco); galeria (Spain);

falaj (United Arab Emirates); Kahn (Baloch). Foggara/fughara is the French translation of

the Arabic qanat, used in North Africa (Sankaran Nair 2004). The Qanats are underground

conduits (Fig. 1) or horizontal wells or shafts which drain water from an unconfined or even

confined aquifer on the slope of a hill and convey water to the agricultural land downstream

by exploiting the natural gradient of the land. The conduits which are usually 60–100 cm

wide and 90 cm to 1.5 m high, in length vary from less than 1–80 km and also their

discharge rate may be less than one to more than 500 l/s (Khanjani et al. 2005a, b; Agarwal

1999; Garbrecht 1983; Goldsmith and Hildyard 1984; Pazwash 1983; Wulff 1968b).

There are some 22,000 qanat units in Iran, comprising more than 272,000 km of

underground channels. The system supplies 75% of all the water used in the country,

providing water not only for irrigation but also for house-hold consumption. Until recently

(before the building of the Karaj Dam) the million inhabitants of the city of Tehran

depended on a qanat system tapping the foothills of the Alburz Mountains for their entire

water supply. The longest qanat in the world is located near the city of Gonabad which is

located in the northeastern part of Iran with a total length of 70 km. The depth of its mother

well is between 400 and 350 m. It should be noted that the most important parameter

which identifies the length of a qanat is the slope of the ground. Lands with smaller slopes

require more lengths, but lands with bigger slope yield to smaller lengths of qanats.

This old technology is gaining new popularity these days. As the appropriate choice of

technique depends on the amount of rainfall and its distribution, land topography, soil type,

soil depth and local socio-economic factors, these systems tend to be very site specific. The

water harvesting methods applied strongly depend on local conditions and include such

widely differing practices as pitting, micro catchments water harvesting, flood water and

ground water harvesting (Bahmani 2005).

We need to reconstruct qanats, because of the world water crisis. Development,

improvement and proper utilization of water based on its natural condition is essential

(Yazdani et al. 2005). Since the development of drilled wells and diesel pumps, some qanat

systems have proved to be uneconomic and have been allowed to fall into disrepair, but in

other areas new qanats are being constructed. Many parts of Iran still depend exclusively

on qanat water both for domestic supplies and for cultivation (Cressey 1958).

Qanats are constructed as a series of well-like vertical shafts, connected by gently

sloping tunnels. This technique (Motiee et al. 2006; Kheirabadi 1991):

• Taps into subterranean water in a manner that efficiently delivers large quantities of

water to the surface without need for pumping. The water drains relying on gravity,

with the destination lower than the source, which is typically an upland aquifer.

• It allows water to be transported long distances in hot dry climates without losing a

large proportion of the source water to seepage and evaporation.

It is very common in the construction of a qanat for the water source to be found below

ground at the foot of a range of foothills of mountains, where the water table is closest to

the surface. From this point, the slope of the qanat is maintained closer to level than the

surface above, until the water finally flows out of the qanat above ground. To reach an

underground aquifer, qanats must often be of extreme length (Motiee et al. 2006; Khe-

irabadi 1991). Underground aqueduct conveys water gently downhill from the highlands to

distribution canals. The water source is the head well, which reaches down to the water

table. The other shafts provide ventilation and give access for cleaning and repair of the

conduit tunnel below. The horizontal tunnel of the qanat is commonly from 10 to 16 km

long (Wulff 1968a).There are still many operating qanats all over the world, but there are

Historical background, productivity and technical issues of qanats 63

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many problems like drought, natural disasters, and economic issues which make it difficult

to rebuild or use this system. Certainly, drilled wells with diesel pumps and depths of more

than 100 m have been the most critical factors for lowering the water level which cause

destruction of qanats.

In the remainder of the paper, the history and development of qanats is mentioned. Next,

continental share is discussed. Then, rules and technical issues are provided. The final part

provides the conclusion.

History and development of qanats

English (1968) mentions qanats appear to have originated in the vicinity of Armenia more

than 2,500 years ago. Then spread rapidly throughout south west Asia and North Africa

during the Achaemenid period (550–331 BC). Polybius records how Arsaces tried to

destroy the qanats and so cut off the water supply in order to halt the advances of An-

tiochus towards the lost Parthian capital of Hecatompylos (Beaumont 1971). The idea of

qanat is of Persian origin and dates back more than 2,000 years; the palace city of

Persepolis is thought to have been supplied by qanats about 500 BC (Cressey 1958). Many

researchers believe that qanats were first constructed in Persia (Iran). References to qanat

systems, known by various names, are fairly common in the literature of ancient and

medieval times. The Greek historian Polybius in the second century BC described a qanat

that had been built in an Iranian desert ‘‘during the Persian ascendancy.’’ It had been

constructed underground, he remarked, ‘‘at infinite toil and expense through a large tract of

country’’ and brought water to the desert from sources that were mysterious to the people

who use the water now (Saffari 2005).

Qanats spread to other parts of the world (Fig. 2) such as: China, Afghanistan, Pakistan,

Arabia, North Africa, Morocco, Jordan, Syria, Spain, and some of the American countries.

They are referred to by different names in other areas: in Afghanistan and Pakistan, they are

known as karezes; in North Africa, as Foggaras; and in the United Arab Emirates, as Aflaj.

There were four main factors for the spread of qanats from Persia to other parts of the world in

the past: the Silk Road, Arab expansion, Roman expansion and Spanish colonization.

During the period 550–331 BC, when Persian rule extended from the Indus to the Nile,

qanat technology spread throughout the empire. The Achaemenid rulers provided a major

incentive for qanat builders and their heirs by allowing them to retain profits from newly-

Fig. 2 Spread of qanats from Persia

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constructed qanats for five generations. As a result, thousands of new settlements were

established and others expanded. To the west, qanats were constructed from Mesopotamia

to the shores of the Mediterranean, as well as southward into parts of Egypt. To the east of

Persia, qanats were constructed in Afghanistan, the Silk Route oases settlements of central

Asia, and Chinese Turkistan (Saffari 2005).

Qanats represent one of the oldest systems of water supply in the world. Perhaps one of

the most sophisticated systems of traditional irrigation known to humans is that associated

with the qanats of Iran (Khanjani et al. 2005a, b; Agarwal 1999; Garbrecht 1983; Gold-

smith and Hildyard 1984; Pazwash 1983; Wulff 1968a). Qanats were sustainable in the

past, because of low wage and cost which are critical factors. Today, sustainability of

qanats is important to consider in the case of productivity. Iran is one of the countries

where we can find many qanats, because of financial support from water authorities. It

should be mentioned that the qanat and its relevant system was first fully developed in

Persia and introduced subsequently to other parts of the world.

Continental distribution of qanats

Qanats exist in arid and semi arid parts of the world in areas with lower underground water

level. Figure 3 shows the distribution of qanats in the world which begins from the

northwestern part of Africa to the eastern part of Asia. It also exists in western parts of

South America too. The reason for the lack of qanat existence in other parts of the world is

because of geographical characteristics of regions and also sufficient amounts of rainfall

and rivers. That is the reason why we do not find qanats in northern America, Australia,

parts of Europe, Russia, and main southern parts of Africa.

In the past 50 years, intense socio-economic changes coupling with drought and floods

have caused the basic system of qanats to be laid aside. Deep wells, semi-deep wells and

large dams have dominated all around the world. These new methods of water supply have

failed to fulfill present demands for water and despite the water crisis that still exists; the

said modes have resulted in a severe and serious setback to the qanat systems (Haeri 2003).

Theoretically, groundwater constitutes the bulk of the world’s freshwater resources, but its

actual accessibility is qualified by logistical issues of extraction. It is repeatedly reported

that about 2,500–3,500 BCM (Billion Cubic Meters) of groundwater are annually

Fig. 3 Distribution of qanats in the world (blue color)


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renewable, out of which only 750–800 BCM per year are currently used. Most of the 750–

800 BCM per annum of global groundwater withdrawals are used for irrigation of agri-

cultural crops (Salih 2006). Iran, as we have noted, is the premier country for qanats, but

there are many other countries around the world which are using this technique.

Motor-equipped deep and semi-deep wells nearby qanats are the main problems for and

renovation or dredging. Moreover, the professional man powers (Muqanni) for construc-

tion and maintenance of qanats have declined because of low income, lack of insurance,

and dissatisfaction with the social ranking. Hence the remaining Muqannies have sought

professions in other fields not only in Iran, but also in many other countries. Drought and

low precipitation is also another reason for the decline of qanats. There are many qanats all

around the world, especially in Middle Eastern countries. There are many other countries

in different continents in which qanats were constructed for conveying underground water

to the surface of the earth.

Africa

The issue of water, in a context of sustainable development, remains a critical factor for

development in Africa in general, and in semi-arid countries in particular. The situation in

North Africa, the hydrological hazard, population growth, and traditional water practices

has led to localized scarcity (United Nations 2006). Indicators dealing with the mobili-

zation and use of water presented in the national Reports (ECA-NA 2005) show that North

Africa is located in a region of the world with the lowest water potential. This region has a

serious problem in water resource and capacity, therefore underground water for qanat use

is limited. qanats in Africa have been categorized in two different categories. First, the

countries where there has been a huge development of qanats, but currently have devel-

opment issues to conserve them. Second, those countries where there have been an old

tradition and history of using qanat systems, but are experiencing a collapse of their qanats

for various reasons. Qanats have been popular only in the northern part of the African

continent, mainly because of the geographical characteristics of the region.

Countries which have conserved qanats

In southern Morocco the qanat (locally khettara) is also used. On the margins of the Sahara

Desert, the isolated oases of the Draa River valley and Tafilalt have relied on qanat water

for irrigation since the late fourteenth century. In Marrakech and the Haouz plain the

qanats have been abandoned since the early 1970s as they’ve dried. In the Tafilaft area, half

of the 400 qanats are still in use. The Hassan Adahkil Dam’s impacts on local water tables

is said to be one of the many reasons given for the loss of half of the qanats (Motiee et al.

2006). The black Berbers of the south are the hereditary class of qanat diggers in Morocco

who build and repair qanats. Their work is also very hazardous (Motiee et al. 2006;

Sankaran Nair 2004). Many villages find their water resources are limited and the sources

that do exist impose significant financial extraction costs that the villages are unable to

afford. The water scarcity leads to increased rates of migration from these villages (Wind

Electric Water Pumping 1999). It is obvious that the qanat system was introduced to

Morocco because of Arab Expansion by people who travelled and migrated from the

Middle East. Clearly, some of the qanats were destroyed for various reasons like drought.

Morocco is one of the countries in Africa with has conserved some qanats.

David Mattingley reports qanats extending for hundreds of kilometers in the Gar-

amantes area near Jarma in Libya. The channels were generally very narrow with less than

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60 cm width and 150 cm height, but some were several kilometers long, and in total some

600 qanats extended for hundreds of kilometers underground. The channels were dug out

and maintained using a series of regularly-spaced vertical shafts, one every 10 m or so,

100,000 in total, averaging 10 m in depth, but sometimes reaching 45 (The 153 Club

Newsletter 2007). There are still some qanats in Libya, but the collapse of such galleries is

not obvious.

The qanat water management system in Tunisia, used to create oases, is similar to that

of the Iranian qanat. The qanat is dug into the foothills of a fairly steep mountain range

such as the eastern ranges of the Atlas Mountains. Rainfall in the mountains enters the

aquifer and moves toward the Saharan region to the south. The qanat with a length of

1–3 km penetrates the aquifer and collects water. Families maintain and own the land for

irrigation over a 10 m width with width only by the size of plot that the available water will

irrigate (Motiee et al. 2006). It is obvious that there are still many qanats in Tunisia,

because new methods of exploiting underground water has not affected qanat system in

this country.

Countries experiencing collapse of qanats

In Algeria, qanats are the source of water for irrigation at large oases like that at Gourara

and are also found at Touat (an area of Adrar 200 km from Gourara). The total length of

qanats in this region is estimated to be thousands of kilometers. Although sources suggest

that the qanats may have been in use as early as 200 AD, they were clearly in use by the

eleventh century after the Arabs took possession of the oases in the tenth century and the

residents embraced Islam. The water is metered to the various users through the use of

distribution weirs which meter flow to the various canals, each for a separate user (Motiee

et al. 2006). The significant groundwater resources of Algeria are located in southern

Saharan far away from dense population centers and important socioeconomic activities.

This groundwater in South Algeria is a non-renewable resource, which are contained in

huge reservoirs of the two sedimentary basins: the Continental Intercalary and the Com-

plex Terminal aquifers. The annual amount of rain, in the North, varies between 300 and

1,000 mm. In the Sahara and south Saharian Atlas, the annual amount of rain is below

100 mm. Algeria has 17 major hydrographic basins and shares the Medjerda basin with

Tunisia, Tafna, Draa, Guir and Daoura basins with Morocco (Bouchekima et al. 2008).

Qanats in Algeria are not popular as they used to be in past, because of different methods

of exploiting underground water by motor pumps. There are not also qanat specialists who

could construct and also repair them, because of high cost which is not economical.

Water is the fundamental element for sustainable and integrated development in Egypt.

Horizontal expansion in agriculture is connected to the country’s ability to provide the

water required for that expansion. Moreover, the economics of water use and its future on

the long run require searching for alternatives and determining the water resources

available at present and additional resources we can obtain in the future (Sustainable

Development and Water Resources in Egypt 2006). Egypt is currently using almost its

entire share of the Nile water, resulting in the need for alternative water resources.

In the Arabian Peninsula abstraction from deep aquifers has caused an alarming

depletion of non-renewable groundwater aquifers but in urban areas there are equally

alarming increases in the level of contaminated groundwater because of leakage from

water and wastewater networks and excess irrigation (Salih 2006). Underground water is

an important source of fresh water in Egypt; its importance is augmented by the fact that it

is the sole and essential source of water in the Egyptian desert that constitutes 95% of


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Egypt’s total area. As the July 23, 1952 Revolution took place, Egypt has taken its first

steps on the path of giant irrigation projects of which the High Dam Lake was the greatest

construction project implemented over the last century and throughout the Egyptian his-

tory. It is a turning point in Egypt’s agricultural history and the beginning of the modern

Egyptian industry. Since the beginning of water storage in High Dam Lake (Lake Nasser)

in 1964, this giant project has succeeded in regulating the River Nile waters and in con-

trolling its flow into the sea. In addition to achieving Egypt’s water security which con-

tributed to the expansion of agricultural development projects, from 21,840 million m2 in

the 1950s to 24,360 million m2 in the 1970s. These projects are mainly located in southern

Egypt, the Suez Canal region, and Sinai. These will contribute to creating new urban

communities in the depths of the Egyptian deserts (Sustainable Development and Water

Resources in Egypt 2006). The main reason that Egypt does not have any more qanats is

because it is not economically feasible any more. Rivers could provide required water at a

lower cost in many desert areas of Egypt.

In many villages, sewage waste flows directly into simple holes in the ground without

any means of preventing it from leaching into groundwater used for drinking and other

household and agricultural needs. Often, waste may flow directly into canals. Only 29% of

the rural population has access to piped water, compared to 82% of the urban population

(Ghali 2008). This is also another reason which prohibits use of water in remaining qanats

of Egypt.

There are four main oases in the Egyptian desert. The Kharga Oasis is one of them

which has been extensively studied. As early as the second half of the fifth century BC

there is evidence that water was being used via qanats. The qanat is excavated through

water-bearing sandstone rock which seeps into the channel to collect in a basin behind a

small dam at the end. The width is approximately 60 cm, but the height ranges from 5 to

9 m; it is likely that the qanat was deepened to enhance seepage when the water table

dropped (as is also seen in Iran). From there the water was used to irrigate fields (Motiee

et al. 2006; Anthony 1953; Wuttmann 2001).

There is another instructive structure located at the Kharga Oasis. A well which

apparently dried up was improved by driving a side shaft through the easily penetrated

sandstone (presumably in the direction of greatest water seepage) into the hill of Ayn-

Manawır to allow collection of additional water. After this side shaft had been extended,

another vertical shaft was driven to intersect the side shaft. Side chambers were built and

holes bored into the rock (presumably at points where water seeped from the rocks) are

evident (Motiee et al. 2006; Wuttmann 2001). In Egypt as well as many arid countries,

there have been tremendous uses of groundwater by construction of bore holes which are

the main cause of drop in the groundwater table. There is a huge collapse of qanats in

Egypt, because of different methods of supplying water.

Asia

Countries which have conserved qanats

Qanat technology exists in more than 34 countries in the world, but most are concentrated

in present day Iran, which has about 32,164 active systems with a total discharge of about 9

billion cubic meters. The first recorded qanats were dug in the north western areas of Iran

and date back to 800 BC (Salih 2006). Qanat was first discovered in Persia (Iran) and then

was introduced to many other countries. The Iranian plateau is largely deserted. Most of

Iran (except areas in the north western provinces and along the southern shores of the

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Caspian Sea) receives only 15–25 cm of rainfall a year. Other regions of the world with so

little rainfall (for example the dry heart of Australia) are barren of attempts at agriculture.

Yet Iran is a farming country that not only grows its own food but also manages to produce

crops for export, such as cotton, dried fruits, oilseeds dates, pistachios and so on. It has

achieved this remarkable accomplishment by developing an ingenious system for tapping

underground water. The system, called qanat was invented in Iran thousands of years ago

and it is so simple and effective that it was adopted in many other countries and regions of

the Middle East and around the Mediterranean (Saffari 2005). The deepest qanat in Iran is

thought to be at Gonabad, near the Afghan border, constructed some 500 years ago. It is

27 km long and is said to be large enough in places that a horse could be ridden through it.

The mother well is reported to be 300 m deep. Many long qanats lead into Kerman city,

some of them 32 km in length. The longest qanat shown on the United States Air Force

charts measures 28 km, near Zarand city, North West of Kerman. Unverified reports credit

Mashhad city with two 64 km qanats, and a qanat near Isfahan is reputed to be 90 km in

length (Cressey 1958). Iran faces widespread droughts regularly, causing large economical

and social damages. The agricultural sector with 80–90% is the largest user of water in Iran

and is often the first sector to be affected by drought. Water management in agriculture is

also rather poor and hence water productivity of crops is far below potential. The growing

water scarcity due to drought and the increasing water demands of industries, households

and environment, are major threats to sustainable agricultural development in Iran.

Therefore, the development of a reliable agricultural drought assessment system would be

very beneficial for proper operational decision making on farms, for early warning, for

identification of potential vulnerability of areas and for mitigation of drought impacts

(Vazifedoust 2007). It is important to impose new regulations in order to prevent waste of

water throughout this system. On the other hand, construction of big reservoirs or pools

could restore flowing water in winter which is useless at this time. It is also recommended

to isolate bottom of qanat tunnels to prevent water loss. Qanats are very popular in Iran and

are one of the main sources of providing water for many purposes.

Qanat structures are especially found in the southern Afghanistan provinces of

Kandahar, Uruzgan, Nimroz and Hilmand. The incessant war for the last 30 years has

destroyed a number of these ancient structures. In the troubled times maintenance was not

always possible. To add to the troubles, in 2008, the cost of labor became very high and

maintaining the qanat structures were no longer possible. Lack of skilled artisans who have

the traditional knowledge also poses difficulties. A number of the large farmers are

abandoning their qanats which belonged to their families for centuries, and moving to tube

and dug wells backed by diesel pumps. However the government of Afghanistan is aware

of the importance of these structures and all efforts are being made to repair, reconstruct

and maintain the qanats through the community. The Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and

Development along with National and International NGOs are making the effort. In a land

strapped for resources returning to traditional and long term sustainable structures will

surely help the Afghans (Motiee et al. 2006). Afghanistan is a country with numerous

qanats in south and most of them are still operational. It goes without saying that there are

many immigrant Afghan qanat specialists (Mughanis) who have migrated to Iran, because

of the socio-political and bad economic situation in Afghanistan. Recently, many Afghans

were returned back to their country. It is a good sign of qanat development in this country

too.

A ribbon of oases, watered by wells and underground channels, extends the length of the

Oman plain, extending about 10 km inland. Nizwa was the capital city of Oman which was

built around a qanat and is in use to this day. In July 2006, the five representative examples


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of this irrigation system were inscribed as a World Heritage Site (Motiee et al. 2006).

There are three different types of the water-carrying-channel systems in Oman; the most

important being the qanats (Al-Isamily and Probert 1998; Costa and Wilkinson 1987). In

1982, it was estimated that qanat systems delivered approximately 70% of the irrigation

water in Oman (Al-Isamily and Probert 1998; Doyel et al. 1984), where an estimated 4,000

qanats presently exist (Al-Isamily and Probert 1998; Boehnke et al. 1984). The qanats

supply water to communities, not to individual houses, and therefore intricate and complex

management systems for sharing the responsibility of water distribution and of qanat

maintenance has evolved (Al-Isamily and Probert 1998; Dutton 1995). In the Samail

village in Northern Oman, markets for water allocation (the right to short-term use of

water) have been widely adopted. This institutional arrangement is operated by a com-

munity’s water shareholders and is based on well recognized, customary and religious

guidelines (Al-Marshudi 2007).

The oasis of Al Ain in the United Arab Emirates continues traditional qanat irrigations

for the palm groves and gardens (Motiee et al. 2006). Because of the arid environment in

UAE, there are many qanat systems for irrigation and drinking water in rural areas and

villages. Al Qasba qanat is one of the key tourist, cultural and entertainment destinations in

the Emirate of Sharjah. It occupies a big area near the Dubai–Sharjah highway, and

comprises of a water canal of a depth of 5 m, a length of 1,000 m and a width of 30 m.

Countries experiencing collapse of qanats

There are hundreds of qanats in Iraq in which all of them are in poor condition and none

are functioning. Water production capacity of these qanats is high and could provide 15%

of drinking water and 85% of farming. It should be noted that each qanat could feed up to

100 farms in Iraq. Qanats are a heritage worth saving, both for cultural and humanitarian

reasons in Iraq. The potential for reviving the traditional knowledge is great, particularly in

the north where 100s of qanat structures still exist, but lie abandoned. Qanats provide a

local, sustainable solution to the current and future water shortages. UNESCOs current

project showcases the potential in Iraq, but more work to expand the restoration and revive

the traditional knowledge is needed (Walther 2009). The earliest qanat in Iraq may have

been constructed before 800 BC. The Kingerban qanat, south of Kirkuk, once had a flow of

approximately 2,000 l/min, but it does not have enough output now.

Qanats were found over much of Syria. The widespread installations of groundwater

pumps have lowered the water table and caused qanat system destruction. Qanats have

been abandoned across the country (Motiee et al. 2006). In Syria, the concentration of

running qanats is located around Damascus, Homs and in the Steppe areas. The qanats

were main sources of water supply for drinking and agriculture in past. It is difficult to

determine the age of qanats because of the small amount of artifacts that are found inside

the tunnels. However we can say through circumstantial evidence that Syrian qanats were

already in use during the Roman period. The digging technique and type of the qanats

varies considerably throughout the country. The water of Syrian qanats is used mainly for

irrigation since the date they were dug. The division of water is based on a local system of

rights and regulations (Wessels and Hoogeveen 2002).

Most of Lebanon and Israel receive enough rainfall so that qanats are unnecessary, but a

few are found farther inland in Jordan and Syria. Qanat systems supply the northern part of

the Damascus oasis, and several short qanats are present east of the Jordan River near

Shunat Nimrun. Discharge records for one of these, some 400 m long, show a flow that

ranged from 300 l/min in August, 1951, to 2,400 l/min in August, 1943. Near the mouth of

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the qanat a weir divides the water into two canals, which in turn feed half a dozen laterals.

Local inhabitants report that the qanats are of Roman origin, since pottery of the Roman

period is associated with them. An underground aqueduct, with numerous shafts, leads into

Solomon’s pool in Jerusalem. This tunnel collects its water from an infiltration gallery but

may not be a true qanat (Cressey 1958).

The historical record of the qanat system extends back to the Han Dynasty in China. An

oasis at Turpan in the deserts of north western China uses water provided by qanat. Turpan

has long been the center of a fertile oasis and an important trade center along the Silk

Road’s northern route, at which time it was adjacent to the kingdoms of Korla and Ka-

rashahr to the southwest. The Turpan Water Museum is a protected area of China because

of the importance of the local qanat system to the history of the area. The number of qanat

systems in the area is slightly below 1,000 and the total length of the canals is about

5,000 km in length (Motiee et al. 2006; Beaumont and Bonine 2002). Chinese farmers are

pumping groundwater faster than its natural replenishment rate, causing a continuous drop

in groundwater tables and depletion of the resource (Salih 2006). A drop in the ground-

water table is the main cause of qanat destruction in many countries especially in China.

The Chagai district is in the North West corner of Balochistan, Pakistan, bordering with

Afghanistan and Iran. Qanats are found more broadly in this region. They are spread from

Chaghai district all the way up to Zhob district. A number of qanats are present in Qilla

Abduallah and Pishin districts. Qanats are also extensively found in the neighboring areas

of Afghanistan like Kandahar. The remains of qanats found in different parts of the district

are attributed to the Arabs (Motiee et al. 2006). Qanat irrigation, an ancient ecologically

sustainable system has been the locus of community life and the social capital within it in

rural Balochistan, Pakistan. The system is under strain from excessive groundwater draw

down from electric and diesel tube wells. The tube wells have in turn been accompanied by

greater integration of the rural society of Balochistan in the capitalist monetary economy of

Pakistan (Mustafa 2007).

In Karnataka, India, a qanat-type structure called Suranga is used to tap underground

water. But these are rarely in use these days (Motiee et al. 2006). Qanat is not a common

method of water exploitation, because there are many rivers in India.

America

The Arabs brought the qanat idea into Spain, and the Spanish brought it to the New World.

In Chile there are galleries near Pica, cut into soft piedmont deposits and ranging in length

from 270 to 7,000 m, with a total length of 29 km. The discharge totals 38 l/s, part of

which is used for local irrigation and part to supply the city of Iquique. Similar systems are

reported elsewhere in south western parts of America. Infiltration galleries are a well-

known engineering measure for collecting ground water.

The city of Los Angeles, for example, obtains a part of its water supply from tunnels

beneath the bed of the Los Angeles River. These are regular tunnels, however, with no

open wells and thus are not properly qanats. Similar water-collecting tunnels are present

elsewhere in Southern California. Honolulu also obtains a good deal of its water from

horizontal wells dug into the volcanic hillsides. These galleries are particularly effective

where they penetrate vertical dikes that trap ground water (Cressey 1958).

Qanats in the Americas can be found in the Atacama regions of Peru, and Chile at

Nazca and Pica (Motiee et al. 2006). The Spanish introduced qanats into Mexico in 1520

AD (Motiee et al. 2006). In arid and semi arid countries, groundwater is widely used for

irrigation. Other parts of the American continent do not require a qanat system for


123

irrigation, agriculture, and drinking purposes, because there are not shortages of water in

these countries. Reason for lack of qanat existence in these areas is because of geo-

graphical characteristics of regions and also sufficient amounts of rainfall and rivers.

Europe

Qanats have been preserved in Armenia in the community of Shvanidzor, in the southern

province of Syunik, bordering with Iran. Qanats are named kahrezes in Armenian. There

are 5 qanats in Shvanidzor. Four of them were constructed even before the village was

founded. The fifth qanat was constructed in 2005. Potable water runs through I, II and V.

Qanat III and IV are in quite poor condition. In summer, especially in July and August, the

amount of water reaches its minimum, creating critical situation in the water supply

system. Still, qanats are the main source of potable and irrigation water for the community

(Motiee et al. 2006).

There are still many examples of galleria or qanat systems in Spain, most likely brought

to the area by the Moors during their occupation of the Iberian Peninsula. Turrillas in

Andalusia on the north facing slopes of the Sierra de Alhamilla has evidence of a qanat

system. Granada is another site with an extensive qanat system (Motiee et al. 2007). Spain

is one of the European countries in which qanats exist. Its introduction is because of the

short distance to the Middle East, and also its cultural relationship with Muslims.

The entire ancient town of Palermo in Sicily has been built over a huge qanat system

built during the Arab period (827–1072). Many of the qanats are now mapped and some

can be visited. An interesting building is the famous Scirocco room, which has an air

refreshing system using the flux of waters of a qanat and a ‘‘wind tower’’, a structure able

to catch the wind and direct it into the room (Motiee et al. 2006).

Cyprus has numerous qanats, known locally as ‘‘chains of wells.’’ The flow of one

system, with 93 shafts, varies with the season between 1,600,000 and 12,000,000 l a day.

The annual supply of water from all the qanats amounted to 148 billion liters in 1950; new

ones are expected to supply an additional 7.4 billion liters. The usual dimensions of Cyprus

qanats are 90 cm high by 45 cm wide (Cressey 1958).

Europe has not been a favorite location for qanat existence. It is located in a region with

sufficient amount of rainfall. This is the main reason for lack of qanat existence in Europe.

Technical issues and rules

Sustainability of a qanat is long-term maintenance of a viable water management system

which depends on eliminating activities that harm the ecological integrity of the system

and the catchment area as well as the viability of social mechanisms that allows the system

to function, without compromising the prominent historical and cultural values of the

system (Walther 2009). Qanats are the most sustainable water management systems which

could be implemented for long term proper functions. Therefore, it is recommended by

many governments to pay more attention to this amazing water transporting system.

It is obvious that qanats were more popular in the past, because people did not have

access to new technologically advanced tools for water supply. After the industrial revo-

lution, new machines were introduced to all fields as well as agriculture. Since then, a

notable change in water exploitation systems has been implemented all around the world.

The qanat system has been forgotten in many countries, but still there are many countries

72 A. Mostafaeipour

123

which implement this sustainable methodology for exploiting underground water to the

surface for different purposes.

Water management

The problem of water shortage in arid and semi-arid regions is one of the main issues for

water management. New interest came up in recent decades to evaluate traditional water

management techniques most of them being simple, sure to implement and of low capital

investment. The classical sources of irrigation water are often at the break of overuse and

therefore untapped sources of (irrigation) water have to be sought for increasing agricul-

tural productivity and providing sustained economic base.

Water harvesting for dry-land agriculture is a traditional water management technology

to ease future water scarcity in many arid and semi-arid regions of world (Bahmani 2005).

Although qanats are wasteful of water, they have the great advantage of deriving their

water high up on the alluvial fan where the supply is fresh and continuously replenished; in

contrast, local well water is stagnant and inclined to be saline near the center of a basin and

presumably will not stand continuous pumping. Many countries like Iran have already had

unfortunate experience in depleting ground water through over pumping (Cressey 1958).

Building of qanats and distribution of the water are ruled by laws and common

understandings that are hallowed by tradition. The builders of a qanat must obtain the

consent of the owners of the land it will cross, but permission cannot be refused arbitrarily.

It must be granted if the new qanat will not interfere with the yield from an existing qanat,

which usually means that the distance between the two must be several hundred yards,

depending on the geological formations involved. When the parties cannot agree, the

matter is decided by the courts, which normally appoint an independent expert to resolve

the technical questions at issue (Wulff 1968a).

Ownership and distribution

Since qanats are the key to life in arid regions, many laws have been developed to govern

their construction and use. Some of these laws regulate the distance between new qanat

tunnels and tunnels already in existence. Thus lines of qanat wells must be spaced at least

11 m apart. Around each qanat entrance is a reserved area. Other laws govern distribution

of the water or responsibilities of the owners. Land near the mouth of the qanat is most

favored, for it is most likely to receive water. The title to empty land may be awarded to

whomever supplies it with water; and on rented land the owner of the water may be entitled

to as much as 80% of the crop. One book of qanat laws, the Kitab Qani, dates from the

ninth century. Moslem law provides that drinking water shall always be free to all, but

those who live upstream have the first right to use water for irrigation. Most qanats are

privately owned. Since land may be useless without water, ownership of water is the

deciding factor in settlement. Some qanats are village property, or ownership may have

been minutely subdivided by inheritance; those at Yazd city in Iran, for example, have

from 50 to 1,000 owners (Cressey 1958).

Ownership of the land where qanat is built belongs to different people. Some owners

endow the qanat routes in their lands partially or totally to the people who live in the area.

Qanats with high discharge of water flow are being managed by Mirab who is a trusted

person for distribution of water. Vazifedoust (2007) mentions that agricultural sector with

80–90% share by far the largest user of water in Iran and is often the first sector to be


123

affected by drought. Water management in agriculture is also very poor and hence water

productivity is far below potential.

Maintenance

The vertical shafts may be covered to minimize in-blown sand and block entrance of

animals and garbage. The channel of qanat must be periodically inspected for erosion or

cave-ins, cleaned of sand and mud, otherwise it must be repaired. Air flow must be assured

before entry for human safety (Ayhan and Topal 2005). A qanat, once built, can exist for a

long time, but agriculture with qanats is extremely labor-intensive. Not only is it difficult to

dig an underground canal, but it also needs a visit every spring to clean it out. Usually, this

work is left to boys, whose fathers are standing near the shaft and pull up buckets and can

come to their children’s rescue when the gallery collapses (Lendering 2010). There are

many variations in the qanat system. Where a single tunnel fails to yield an adequate

supply, branch infiltration galleries may be added. During dry periods, when the water

table is depressed, the tunnels may be lengthened to reach more dependable supplies, or the

uppermost well may be deepened and a pump installed. All qanats require maintenance.

Where the tunnel passes through soft earth or is subject to caving in, it must be cleaned

each year, and this may entail a large expense. During years of exceptionally heavy rain,

the ground may become saturated down to the tunnel level, with resultant widespread

collapse (Cressey 1958). It is necessary to inspect qanats regularly, but after flood or

earthquake a tremendous damage may occur.

Qanat routes need to be regularly cleaned and maintained: They are subject to damage

and destruction by flash floods. To prevent shafts from being filled with sand, they are

covered by stone slabs or other objects. The people involved in digging and maintaining

qanat systems are called Muqannies. They suffer great inconvenience to perform their

laborious jobs. They carry castor-oil lamps to test the ventilation underground. If the air

does not keep the flame alight another shaft is sunk. They clear the deposited sediments

formed by minerals at the bottom of the aqueducts. At any cases of incurred damages,

nothing can be done without such people; meaning water would not be accessible in the

qanat-water-supplied settlements. Damages could be the falling in of the ceiling of

aqueducts or walls of shafts, the accumulation of sediments, sands or mud in the under-

ground galleries, the blockage of subterranean waterways, etc. It is worth notifying that the

Muqannies from Yazd city have always been famous for their skills to work professionally

on qanat projects (Mehrabi 2010). Water ownership is exactly same as land ownership and

the right for qanat ownership must be respected among all the users. Horizontal canals

must be inspected regularly for safety reasons, because erosion could block flow of water.

Artificial recharge

Artificial recharge is also referred to as a new method for qanat development. Modern

technology can help the traditional system of qanat provided that a sophisticated study has

initially been achieved. Since a large part of qanats water discharge during non-cultivation

period of the year, finding a method for reserving of water is inevitable (Yazdani et al.

2005). Modern irrigation systems might be totally unsuited to local conditions in desert

areas of Iran and built regardless of their impact on local traditions, used to replace the

qanats. Because the discharge of the qanats are regulated by the nature and is more reliable

than other sources, many farmers are eagerly investing on them (Khanjani et al. 2005a, b;

74 A. Mostafaeipour

123

Farhadi and Khanjani 2005). Many qanats are being rehabilitated because of many existing

problems.

Other applications for qanats

Combination of qanat and wind catcher

The arid regions of Iran have fairly fixed seasonal and daily wind patterns. The wind

catchers harness the prevailing summer winds to cool and circulate it through a building. A

wind catcher is a chimney-like structure positioned above the house to catch the prevailing

wind with one end in the basement of the building and the other end rising from the roof.

Wind tower technologies date back over 1,000 years (Saffari 2005). There are many

wind catchers in central parts of Iran in the cities of Yazd, Naein, Kashan, Kerman,

Ardekan, and Bafgh. It should be mentioned that city of Yazd is famous for its wind

catchers. There are also many old houses that use the combination of qanat and wind

catchers in Iran (Fig. 4). This system could act as a renewable source of energy which

could be a proper substitute for air conditioners and coolers.

Qanats used in conjunction with a wind catcher can provide cooling as well as a water

supply. The tower catches the wind, driving a hot, dry breeze into the house; the flow of the

incoming air is then directed across the vertical shaft from the qanat. The air flow across the

vertical shaft opening creates a lower pressure and draws cool air up from the qanat tunnel,

mixing with it. The air from the qanat was drawn into the tunnel at some distance away and

is cooled both by contact with the cool tunnel walls/water and by the giving up latent heat of

evaporation as water evaporates into the air stream. In dry desert climates this can result in a

greater than 15�C reduction in the air temperature coming from the qanat; the mixed air still

feels dry, so the basement is cool and only comfortably moist (not damp). Wind catcher and

Fig. 4 Wind tower and qanat used for cooling (Motiee et al. 2006)


123

qanat cooling have been used in desert climates for over 1,000 years (Motiee et al. 2006;

Bahadori 1978). However, since many qanats have dried out, it is hard to find this com-

bination system in Iran or other countries. The main reason for drying of the qanats is

increased use of tube wells by farmers in order to provide water for agriculture.

Distribution systems

Qanats were frequently split into an underground distribution network of smaller canals

when reaching a major city. Like qanats, these smaller canals were below ground to avoid

contamination (Motiee et al. 2006). There is also a system which divides and distributes

water equally and directs the flowing water to various canals for different users. Figure 5

shows the metered water system which separates water for different users.

Water storage

A reservoir (water storage) is a pool from which drinking water could be easily pro-

vided in desert regions with shortage of water. There are many of these reservoirs in

central parts of Iran which are located in the middle of deserts. There are many dif-

ferent kinds of reservoirs, some collect rainfall in spring and winter seasons. Figure 6

shows the system of reservoir with four wind catchers that collect wind in all different

directions. In top of the wind catchers, there are four openings for purpose of harnessing

wind from all directions. This reservoir is located in heart of the city of Yazd in Iran

and is not operational now, because of the new system of water distribution. Usually

many tourists visit this historic site in which there is not any opening or entrance to the

building now.

Figure 7 shows another system of reservoir with four wind catchers which was built

250 years ago in a suburb of the city of Yazd. It is between the cities of Yazd and Taft

which is the main source of all underground and surface water. The reservoir was built

inside of the Khan Garden. These wind catchers could only harness winds from only one

direction, because there are only two openings at the top which could operate and collect

the wind. The reason for constructing only two openings is because the wind in this area

Fig. 5 Water distribution system

76 A. Mostafaeipour

123

blows in one direction. One opening collects air and the other is for exiting the incoming

air. The air circulates inside the dome and cools the water inside the pool.

Increasing demand for water, higher standards of living, depletion of resources of

acceptable quality, and excessive water pollution due to agricultural and industrial

expansions have caused intensive social and environmental predicaments all over the

world (Kerachian and Karamouz 2007). During the past decades, there have been many

advances in reservoir operation. Karamouz and Vasiliadis (1992), Mousavi et al. (2004),

and Labadie (2004) have made a thorough review of previous studies in this field

(Kerachian and Karamouz 2007). Some other types of reservoirs (Fig. 8) supply from

qanats. There is a pool or pond under the reservoir which stores flowing water from qanat.

People could supply only drinking water from these underground ponds.

Figure 9 shows the outside view of the reservoir which is built to gain access to the

underground qanat water mainly for drinking purpose.

Fig. 6 A water reservoir withfour wind catchers in city ofYazd

Fig. 7 Reservoir with four windcatchers each with two openings


123

Ice storage

In 400 BC, Persian engineers had already mastered the technique of storing ice in the

middle of summer in deserts. The ice was brought in during the winters from nearby

mountains in large quantities, and stored in specially designed, naturally cooled refrig-

erators called Yakhchal (meaning ice pits). A large underground space with thick

insulated walls was connected to a qanat, and a system of wind catchers was used to

draw cool subterranean air up from the qanat to maintain temperatures inside the space at

low levels, even during hot summer days. As a result, the ice melted slowly and ice was

available year-round (Boustani 2008; Motiee et al. 2006). One of the most interesting ice

storages in Iran is located in city of Ardekan which is located in Yazd province in

middle of desert, and many tourists visit this place every day. There is also another place

which is called Barfkhane and is located in the village of Tezerjan in the province of

Yazd in Iran.

Fig. 8 Stairways toward qanat water under the dome

Fig. 9 Outside view of the reservoir

78 A. Mostafaeipour

123

Conclusion

There are different methods of supplying water for agriculture and drinking purposes, but

many countries in the world are using tube wells, rivers, springs and other ways in order to

supply the required demands. Qanats have been one of the most common methods of

underground water exploitation in arid countries of the world for many centuries in dif-

ferent continents. A drop in the groundwater table is the main cause of qanat destruction in

many countries. Qanats are counted as one of the methods of procuring water for drinking,

agricultural and irrigation productivity not only in the internal plateau of Iran, but also in

many other countries. Qanats are wasteful of water, but they have the great advantage of

deriving their water high up on the alluvial fan where the supply is fresh and continuously

replenished. Many factors are threatening the qanat systems in Iran and other countries.

Lack of productivity in water consumption, climate change and desertification risk, over

consumption of water resources, and implementing of new techniques, as well as inade-

quate policies have all contributed towards the degradation of ingenious system of qanat

construction and maintenance. There should be an attempt for protection of the existing

qanats of the world in order to keep this ancient heritage alive.

Acknowledgments The author gratefully acknowledges helpful comments and suggestions of Prof. JohanTempelhoff, Prof. Kate Berry and also respected reviewers for their precious comments.

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