Qanat is cultural and social and scientific heritage in Iran
Qanat and its water clock. by Dr . Mohammad Ajam
The primary applications of Qanat(Kariz) in Iran was for irrigation, providing cattle with water, and drinking water supply. usually people of ancient Iran settled first around the river and springs fountains, but since most springs and rivers in Iran were short-lived and usually dry in summer, people came to dig deep wells and then invented the underground canal to bring water to the surface of the earth. For example, the people of the dry desert town of Gonabad first settled in the Brakuh foothills of the south, which had numerous springs, then dug wells to bring the water to the surface, and settled in areas near the exit of the water channel and engaged in farming. And little by little the city was created. Such cities are called the Kariz based civilizations. Iranian cities are generally based on Qanat and Kariz civilizations only the jungle and coastal area the Caspian Sea and some riverside cities such as Khuzestan was based on river civilization. Most rivers in Iran are seasonal and have normally not been able to supply the needs of urban settlements. Major rivers like the Arvand, Aras, Zayandeh, Sefid and Atrak were few and far between in the vast lands of Persia and Iran flat. Qanat is cultural and social and scientific heritage in Iran .
With the growth of urban settlements during the ages, could no longer keep up with the demand people forced to dug deep wells (10 or even up to 350 meters deep), leading to the systematic specialized network of canals known as Qanat.
A Qanat or Kariz is a gently sloping underground channel to transport water from an aquifer or water well to surface for irrigation and drinking, acting as an underground canal. This is an old system of water supply from some deep well with a series of vertical access shafts. The Qanat still create a reliable supply of water for human settlements and irrigation in hot, arid, and semi-arid climates, but the value of this system is directly related to the quality, volume, and regularity of the water flow. Traditionally Qanat are built by a group of skilled laborers, digger in Persian called karizkar or muqannīs, with hand labor. A very hard work, paid well and was typically handed down from father to son. According to most historical and Archeological sources, the Qanat technology was developed in ancient Iran by the Persian people most probably in Khorasan sometime in the early 1st millennium BCE, and spread from there to other regions.
Qanāh (قناة) is an Arabicized word that means "channel" or digging. In Persian, the words for "qanat" are kārīz (or kārēz; کاریز), and is derived from earlier word kāhrēz (کاهریز). The word qanāt (قنات) is also used in Persian the word has a rot in kanal. Other names for qanat include kahan (Persian: کهن), Kahn (Balochi), kahriz/kəhriz (Azerbaijan); khettara (Morocco); Galerías, minas or viajes de agua (Spain); falaj (Arabic: فلج), foggara/fughara . Alternative terms for Qanat in Asia and North Africa are kakuriz, chin-avulz, mayun and kani,kanat. Traditionally it is recognized that the qanat technology was invented in ancient Persia (Iran). sometime in the early 1st millennium BCE and spread from there. Accordingly, some sources state qanats were invented in Iran before 1000 BCE[Ajam] and as far back as 3000 BCE.[ Herbert] Consequently, the qanats of Gonabad have been estimated to be nearly 2700 years old.[labaf]
In 2013, Boualem Remini and Bachir Achour, stated that the origin of the qanat technology is uncertain, yet confirmed the technology was in use in northwest Iran c.1000 BCE.[kazemi ]
Qanat is Iranian cultural and social and scientific heritage because civilization in most part of Iran is based on qanat elements. Qanat is a human-dug underground canal in the arid areas created to collect freshwater and flow it to the ground for agricultural, human drinking and livestock purposes.
The role of the Qanat in the formation of Kariz civilizations and the emergence of the state and economic development in old Persia was a fundamental element. Based on the historical facts Qanat and the springs being the first basis of civilization specially in Persia, and a base for management and communal work.[ajam2003] Marx believed that Asian societies were forced to participate in water management (supply, distribution, maintenance and restoration) due to geographical hard conditions and the need. The election of the head (and MirAab) and the leader were necessary, and the need for such collective work was the basis for the formation of government.
The value of the qanat is directly related to the quality, volume, and regularity of the water flow. Much of the population of Iran and other arid countries in Asia and North Africa historically depended upon the water from qanats; the areas of population corresponded closely to the areas where qanats are possible. Although a qanat was expensive to construct, its long-term value to the community, and thereby to the group that invested in building and maintaining it, was substantial for arid Low rainfall area. [ajam2003]
A typical town or city in Iran, and elsewhere where the qanat is used, has more than one qanat. Fields and gardens are located both over the qanats a short distance before they emerge from the ground and below the surface outlet. Water from the Qanat defines both the social regions in the city and the layout of the city.The water is freshest, cleanest, and coolest in the upper reaches and more prosperous people live at the outlet or immediately upstream of the outlet. When the qanat is still below ground, the water is drawn to the surface via water wells or animal driven Persian wells. Private subterranean reservoirs could supply houses and buildings for domestic use and garden irrigation as well. Further, air flow from the qanat is used to cool an underground summer room (shabestan) found in many older houses and buildings.
Downstream of the outlet, the water runs through surface canals called Jubs (Jūbs) which run downhill, with lateral branches to carry water to the neighborhood, gardens and fields. The streets normally parallel the Jubs and their lateral branches. As a result, the cities and towns are oriented consistent with the gradient of the land; this is a practical response to efficient water distribution over varying terrain.
The lower reaches of the canals are less desirable for both residences and agriculture. The water grows progressively more polluted as it passes downstream. In dry years the lower reaches are the most likely to see substantial reductions in flow.
Cotton is indigenous to South Asia and has been cultivated in India for a long time. Cotton appears in the Inquiry into Plants by Theophrastus and is mentioned in the Laws of Manu .
"In arid and semi-arid regions, owing to high evaporation, transportation routes were in the form of underground canal of qanat, which lead groundwater to consumption areas along the tunnels. In the long run, the qanat system is not only economical but also sustainable for irrigation and agricultural purposes.… The ground water flow was known to depend on grain size of sediments, and, therefore, the tunnels in qanats are filled in with coarser material than the surrounding hose geological formations. The qanats are constructed mainly along the valleys where Quaternary sediments are deposited."
Qanats are constructed as a series of well-like vertical shafts, connected by gently sloping tunnels. Qanats efficiently deliver large amounts of subterranean water to the surface without need for pumping. The water drains by gravity, typically from an upland aquifer, with the destination lower than the source. Qanats allow water to be transported over long distances in hot dry climates without much water loss to evaporation.
The qanat should not be confused with the spring-flow tunnel typical to the mountainous area around Jerusalem and in japan. Although both are excavated tunnels designed to extract water by gravity flow, there are crucial differences. Firstly, the origin of the qanat was a well that was turned into an artificial spring. In contrast, the origin of the spring-flow tunnel was the development of a natural spring to renew or increase flow following a recession of the water table. Secondly, the shafts essential for the construction of Qanat are not essential to spring-flow tunnels.
It is very common for a qanat to start below the foothills of mountains, where the water table is closest to the surface. From this source, the qanat tunnel slopes gently downward, slowly converging with the steeper slope of the land surface above, and the water finally flows out above ground where the two levels meet. To connect a populated or agricultural area with an aquifer, qanats must often extend for long distances.
Qanats are sometimes split into an underground distribution network of smaller canals called Kariz. Like qanats, these smaller canals are below ground to avoid contamination and evaporation. In some cases, water from a qanat is stored in a reservoir, typically with night flow stored for daytime use. An AbAnbar(water reservoir) is an example of a traditional Persian qanat-fed reservoir for drinking water.
The qanat system has the advantage of being resistant to natural disasters such as earthquakes and floods, and to deliberate destruction in war. Furthermore, it is almost insensitive to the levels of precipitation, delivering a flow with only gradual variations from wet to dry years. From a sustainability perspective, qanats are powered only by gravity, and thus have low operation & maintenance costs once built. Qanats transfer freshwater from the mountain plateau to the lower-lying plains with saltier soil. This helps to control soil salinity and prevent desertification.
As trans regional trade networks expanded and intensified, cotton spread from its homeland to India and into the Middle East where it devastated the agricultural systems already in place there. Much of Persia was initially too hot and dry for the crop to be cultivated; to solve that problem, the qanat was developed first in modern-day Iran, where it doubled the amount of available water for irrigation and urban use. [Ajam] Because of this, Persia enjoyed larger surpluses of agriculture thus increasing urbanization and social stratification.
In the middle of the twentieth century, an estimated 120,000 Qanat were in use in Iran each commissioned and maintained by local users. Of these, only 37,000 remain in use as of 2001. [Ajam2003]
Kariz in Persia
The Qanats of Gonabad, also called kariz Kai Khosrow, is one of the oldest and largest Qanat in the world built between 700 BCE to 500 BCE. It is located at Gonabad, Razavi Khorasan Province. This property contains 427 water wells with total length of 33,113 m (20.575 mi).[Ajam] This site were first added to the UNESCO's list of tentative World Heritage Sites in 2007, then officially inscribed in 2016 with several other quants under the World Heritage Site name of "The Persian Qanet".[IRIB]
One of the oldest and largest known Qanat is in the Iranian city of Gonabad, and after 2,700 years still provides drinking and agricultural water to nearly 40,000 people. Its main well depth is more than 360 meters and its length is 45 kilometers. Yazd, Khorasan and Kerman are zones known for their dependence on an extensive system of Qanat.
In 2016, UNESCO inscribed the Persian Qanat as a World Heritage Site, listing the following eleven qanats: Qasebeh Qanat, Qanat of Baladeh, Qanat of Zarch, Hasan Abad-e Moshir Qanat, Ebrāhim Ābād Qanat in Markazi Province, Qanat of Vazvān in Esfahan Province, Mozd Ābād Qanat in Esfahan Province, Qanat of the Moon in Esfahan Province, Qanat of Gowhar-riz in Kerman Province, Jupār – Ghāsem Ābād Qanat in Kerman Province, and Akbar Ābād Qanat in Kerman Province . Since 2002, UNESCO's International Hydrological Programme (IHP) Intergovernmental Council began investigating the possibility of an international qanat research center to be located in Yazd, Iran.[IRNA]
A water clock or clepsydra is any timepiece by which time is measured by the regulated flow of water into (inflow type) or out from (outflow type) a vessel, and where the amount is then measured.
Water clocks are one of the oldest time-measuring instruments. They were invented in ancient time. The bowl-shaped outflow is the simplest form of a water clock and is known to have existed in Babylon, and in Egypt, and Persia around the 16th century BC. Other regions of the world, including India and China, also have early evidence of water clocks, but the earliest dates are less certain Water clocks were used to measure the time. Water and irrigation are very important in arid regions. Water clocks were needed to determine the exact time and Duration of water outflow from a Qanat or a well into the garden or farms. The Persians were using water clocks as early as 328 BC to ensure a just and exact distribution of water from Qanat to the farms and gardens of their shareholders. A water clock uses the flow of water to measure time. There are two types of water clocks: inflow and outflow. In an outflow water clock, a container is filled with water, and the water is drained slowly and evenly out of the container. This container has markings that are used to show the passage of time. As the water leaves the container, an observer can see where the water is level with the lines and tell how much time has passed. An inflow water clock works in basically the same way, except instead of flowing out of the container, the water is filling up the marked container. As the container fills, the observer can see where the water meets the lines and tell how much time has passed. Some modern timepieces are called "water clocks" but work differently from the ancient ones. Their timekeeping is governed by a pendulum, but they use water for other purposes, such as providing the power needed to drive the clock by using a water wheel or something similar, or by having water in their displays
Ancient Persian water clock in Qanats of Gonabad
Acording to Callisthenes, the Persians were using water clocks in 328 BCE for timekeeping to ensure a just and exact distribution of water from Qanat to their shareholder's gardens and farm irrigation. The use of water clocks in Iran, especially in Qanats of Gonabad and Kariz e Zibad, dates back to 500BCE. Later they were also used to determine the exact holy days of pre-Islamic religions, such as the Nowruz, Chelah, or Yaldā – the shortest, longest, and equal-length days and nights of the years.[Ajam2003] The Water clock, or Fenjaan, was the most accurate and commonly used timekeeping device for calculating and measuring the amount or the time that a farmer or shareholder receive water from the Qanats of Gonabad until the Fenjan was replaced by more accurate current clocks.[Ajam2003].
According to Callisthenes, the Persians were using water clocks in 328 BC to ensure a just and exact distribution of water from qanats to their shareholders for agricultural irrigation. The use of water clocks in Iran, especially in Zibad, dates back to 500 BC. Later they were also used to determine the exact holy days of pre-Islamic religions, such as the Nowruz, Chelah, or Yaldā – the shortest, longest, and equal-length days and nights of the years. The water clocks used in Iran were one of the most practical ancient tools for timing the yearly calendar. The water clock, or Fenjaan, was the most accurate and commonly used timekeeping device for calculating the amount or the time that a farmer must take water from a qanat or well for irrigation, until it was replaced by more accurate current clocks. Persian water clocks were a practical and useful tool necessary for the qanat's shareholders to calculate the length and duration of time they could divert water to their farm. The qanat(Kariz) was the only water source for agriculture and irrigation so a just and fair water distribution was very important. Therefore, a very fair and clever old person was elected to be the manager of the water clock(MirAab), and at least two full-time managers were needed to control and observe the number of Fenjaans(minutes ) during the days and night and announce the exact time or number of Fenjan during the days and nights.
The Fenjaan consisted of a large pot full of water and a bowl with a small hole in the center. When the bowl became full of water, it would sink into the pot, and the manager would empty the bowl and again put it on the top of the water in the pot. He would record the number of times the bowl sank by putting small stones into a jar. The place where the clock was situated, and its managers, were collectively known as khaneh Fenjaan. Usually this would be the top floor of a public-house, with west- and east-facing windows to show the time of Sunset and Sunrise. There was also another time-keeping tool named a staryab or astrolabe, but it was mostly used for superstitious beliefs and was not practical for use as a farmers' calendar. The Zibad Gonabad water clock was in use until 1965 when it was substituted by modern clocks.
The eastern and central regions of Iran hold the most qanats due to low precipitation and lack of permanent surface streams, whereas a small number of qanats can be found in the northern and western parts which receive more rainfall and enjoy some permanent rivers. Respectively the provinces Khorasan Razavi, Southern Khorasan, Isfahan and Yazd accommodate the most qanats, but from the viewpoint of water discharge the provinces Isfahan, Khorasan Razavi, Fars and Kerman are ranked first to fourth.
Henri Golbot, explored the genesis of the qanat in his 1979 publication, Les Qanats. Une technique d'acquisition de l'eau (The Qanats. a Technique for Obtaining Water) He wrongly argues that the ancient Iranians made use of the water that the miners wished to get rid of it, and founded a basic system named qanat or Kariz to supply the required water to their farm lands. According to Goblot, this innovation took place in the northwest of the present Iran somewhere bordering Turkey and later was introduced to the neighboring Zagros Mountains.in fact qanat was a way to bring water for drinking and farming in dry area of east of Iran. Accordin to shahname of Firdausi the war of 12 Rokh and according to the Nasser khosrow it was Kai Khosrow who ordered digging the qanat of Gonabad and the Give managed the qanat in that region in fact Goblot studied western part of Iran and was not aware of the eastern Iran Qanat so he mentioned in his book some theory but years latter then he tried to correct his studies and mentioned ignorance about origin and the main cause of digging the Qanat in iran [Ajam2003]
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
According to an inscription left by Sargon II, the king of Assyria, In 714 BCE he invaded the city of Uhlu lying in the northwest of Uroomiye lake that lay in the territory of Urartu empire, and then he noticed that the occupied area enjoyed a very rich vegetation even though there was no river running across it. So he managed to discover the reason why the area could stay green, and realized that there were some Qanat behind the matter. In fact it was Ursa, the king of the region, who had rescued the people from thirst and turned Uhlu into a prosperous and green land. Goblet believes that the influence of the Medeans and Achaemenids made the technology of qanat spread from Urartu (in the western north of Iran and near the present border between Iran and Turkey) to all over the Iranian plateau. It was an Achaemenid ruling that in case someone succeeded in constructing a qanat and bringing groundwater to the surface in order to cultivate land, or in renovating an abandoned qanat, the tax he was supposed to pay the government would be waived not only for him but also for his successors for up to 5 generations. During this period, the technology of qanat was in its heyday and it even spread to other countries. For example, following Darius's order, Silaks the naval commander of the Persian army and Khenombiz the royal architect managed to construct a qanat in the oasis of Kharagha in Egypt. Beadnell believes that qanat construction dates back to two distinct periods: they were first constructed by the Persians, and later the Romans dug some other Qanat during their reign in Egypt from 30 BCE to 395 CE. The magnificent temple built in this area during Darius's reign shows that there was a considerable population depending on the water of Qanat. Ragerz has estimated this population to be 10,000 people. The most reliable document confirming the existence of Qanat at this time was written by Polybius who states that: "the streams are running down from everywhere at the base of Alborz mountain, and people have transferred too much water from a long distance through some subterranean canals by spending much cost and labor."
During the Seleucid Era, which began after the occupation of Iran by Alexander, it seems that the Qanat were abandoned.
In terms of the situation of Qanat during this era, some historical records have been found. In a study by Russian orientalist scholars it has been mentioned that: The Persians used the side branches of rivers, mountain springs, wells and Qanat to supply water. The subterranean galleries excavated to obtain groundwater were named as qanat. These galleries were linked to the surface through some vertical shafts which were sunk in order to get access to the gallery to repair it if necessary.
A document written in the Pahlavi(old Persian) language pointed out the important role of Qanat in developing the cities at that time. In Iran, the advent of Islam, which coincided with the overthrow of the Sassanid dynasty, brought about a profound change in religious, political, social and cultural structures. But the Qanat stayed intact, because the economic infrastructure, including Qanat was of great importance to the Arabs. As an instance, M. Lombard reports that the Moslem clerics who lived during Abbasid period, such as Abooyoosef Ya’qoob (death 798 CE) stipulated that whoever can bring water to the idle lands in order to cultivate, his tax would be waived and he would be entitled to the lands cultivated. Therefore, this policy did not differ from that of the Achaemenids in not getting any tax from the people who revived abandoned lands. The Arabs’ supportive policy on Qanat was so successful that even the holy city of Mecca gained a qanat too. The Persian historian Hamdollah Mostowfi writes: "Zobeyde Khatoon (Haroon al-Rashid's wife) constructed a qanat in Mecca. After the time of Haroon al-Rashid, during the caliph Moghtader’s reign this qanat fell into decay, but he rehabilitated it, and the qanat was rehabilitated again after it collapsed during the reign of two other caliphs named Ghaem and Naser. After the era of the caliphs this qanat completely fell into ruin because the desert sand filled it up, but later Amir Choopan repaired the qanat and made it flow again in Mecca.
There are also other historical texts proving that the Abbasids were concerned about Qanat. For example, according to the “Incidents of Abdollah bin Tahir’s Time” written by Gardizi, in 830 CE a terrible earthquake struck the town of Forghaneh and reduced many homes to rubble. The inhabitants of Neyshaboor used to come to Abdollah bin Tahir in order to request him to intervene, for they fought over their qanats and found the relevant instruction or law on qanat as a solution neither in the prophet's quotations nor in the clerics’ writings. So Abdollah bin Tahir managed to bring together all the clergymen from throughout Khorasan and Iraq to compile a book entitled Alghani (The Book of Qanat). This book collected all the rulings on qanats which could be of use to whoever wanted to judge a dispute over this issue. Gardizi added that this book was still applicable to his time, and everyone made references to this book.
One can deduce from these facts that during the above-mentioned period the number of Qanat(kane) was so considerable that the authorities were prompted to put together some legal instructions concerning them. Also it shows that from the ninth to eleventh centuries the Qanat that were the hub of the agricultural systems were also of interest to the government. Apart from The Book of Alghani, which is considered as a law booklet focusing on qanat-related rulings based on Islamic principles, there is another book about groundwater written by Karaji in 1010. This book, entitled Extraction of Hidden Waters, examines just the technical issues associated with the qanat and tries to answer the common questions such as how to construct and repair a qanat, how to find a groundwater supply, how to do leveling, etc. Some of the innovations described in this book were introduced for the first time in the history of hydrogeology, and some of its technical methods are still valid and can be applied in qanat construction. The content of this book implies that its writer (Karaji) did not have any idea that there was another book on qanats compiled by the clergymen.
There are some records dating back to that time, signifying their concern about the legal vicinity of Qanat. For example, Mohammad bin Hasan quotes Aboo-Hanifeh that in case someone constructs a qanat in abandoned land, someone else can dig another qanat in the same land on the condition that the second qanat is 500 zera’ (375 meters) away from the first one.
Ms. Lambton quotes Moeen al-din Esfarzi who wrote the book Rowzat al-Jannat (the garden of paradise) that Abdollah bin Tahir (from the Taherian dynasty) and Ismaeel Ahmed Samani (from the Samani dynasty) had several qanats constructed in Neyshaboor. Later, in the 11th century, a writer named Nasir Khosrow acknowledged all those Qanat with the following words: "Neyshaboor is located in a vast plain at a distance of 40 Farsang (≈240 km) from Serakhs and 70 Farsang (≈420 km) from Mary (Marv) … all the Qanat of this city run underground, and it is said that an Arab who was offended by the people of Neyshaboor has complained that; what a beautiful city Neyshaboor could have become if its Qanat would have flowed on the ground surface and instead its people would have been underground." These documents all certify the importance of Qanat during the Islamic history within the cultural territories of Iran.
In the 13th century, the invasion of Iran by Mongolian tribes reduced many Qanat and irrigation systems to ruin, and many Qanat were deserted and dried up. Later, in the era of the Ilkhanid dynasty especially at the time of Ghazan Khan and his Persian minister Rashid al-Din Fazl-Allah, some measures were taken to revive the qanats and irrigation systems. There is a 14th-century book entitled Al-Vaghfiya Al-Rashidiya (Rashid's Deeds of Endowment) that names all the properties located in Yazd, Shiraz, Maraghe, Tabriz, Isfahan and Mowsel that Rashid Fazl-Allah donated to the public or religious places. This book mentions many qanats running at that time and irrigating a considerable area of farmland. At the same time, another book, entitled Jame’ al-Kheyrat, was written by Seyyed Rokn al-Din on the same subject as Rashid's book. In this book, Seyyed Rokn al-Din names the properties he donated in the region of Yazd. These deeds of endowment indicate that much attention was given to the qanats during the reign of Ilkhanids, but it is attributable to their Persian ministers, who influenced them.
In the years 1984–1985 the ministry of energy took a census of 28,038 qanats whose total discharge was 9 billion cubic meters. In the years 1992–1993 the census of 28,054 qanats showed a total discharge of 10 billion cubic meters. 10 years later in 2002–2003 the number of the qanats was reported as 33,691 with a total discharge of 8 billion cubic meters.
In the restricted regions there are 317,225 wells, qanats and springs that discharge 36,719 million cubic meters water a year, out of which 3,409 million cubic meters is surplus to the aquifer capacity. in 2005, in the country as a whole, there were 130,008 deep wells with a discharge of 31,403 million cubic meter, 33,8041 semi deep wells with a discharge of 13,491 million cubic meters, 34,355 qanats with a discharge of 8,212 million cubic meters, and 55,912 natural springs with a discharge of 21,240 million cubic meters.[ Labbaf-yazdi]
There are some records dating back to that time, signifying their concern about the legal vicinity of qanats. For example, Mohammad bin Hasan quotes Aboo-Hanifeh that in case someone constructs a qanat in abandoned land, someone else can dig another qanat in the same land on the condition that the second qanat is 500 zera’ (375 meters) away from the first one. Ms. Lambton quotes Moeen al-din Esfarzi who wrote the book Rowzat al-Jannat (the garden of paradise) that Abdollah bin Tahir (from the Taherian dynasty) and Ismaeel Ahmed Samani (from the Samani dynasty) had several qanats constructed in Neyshaboor. Later, in the 11th century, a writer named Nasir Khosrow acknowledged all those qanats with the following words: “Neyshaboor is located in a vast plain at a distance of 40 Farsang (~240 km) from Serakhs and 70 Farsang (~420 km) from Mary (Marv) … all the qanats of this city run underground, and it is said that an Arab who was offended by the people of Neyshaboor has complained that; what a beautiful city Neyshaboor could have become if its qanats would have flowed on the ground surface and instead its people would have been underground”. These documents all certify the importance of qanats during the Islamic history within the cultural territories of Iran.
In the 13th century, the invasion of Iran by Mongolian tribes reduced many qanats and irrigation systems to ruin, and many qanats were deserted and dried up. Later, in the era of the Ilkhanid dynasty especially at the time of Ghazan Khan and his Persian minister Rashid al-Din Fazl-Allah, some measures were taken to revive the qanats and irrigation systems. There is a 14th-century book entitled "Al-Vaghfiya Al-Rashidiya" (Rashid's Deeds of Endowment) that names all the properties located in Yazd, Shiraz, Maraghe, Tabriz, Isfahan and Mowsel that Rashid Fazl-Allah donated to the public or religious places. This book mentions many qanats running at that time and irrigating a considerable area of farmland. At the same time, another book, entitled Jame’ al-Kheyrat, was written by Seyyed Rokn al-Din on the same subject as Rashid's book. In this book, Seyyed Rokn al-Din names the properties he donated in the region of Yazd. These deeds of endowment indicate that much attention was given to the qanats during the reign of Ilkhanids, but it is attributable to their Persian ministers, who influenced them.
In the Safavid era (15th and 16th centuries), the problem of the shortage of water intensified and led to the construction of many water reservoirs and qanats. Jean Chardin the French explorer who made two long journeys to Iran at this time, reports that: “the Iranians rip the foothills in search of water, and when they find any, by means of qanats they transfer this water to a distance of 50 or 60 kilometers or sometimes further downstream. No nation in the world can compete with the Iranians in recovering and transferring groundwater. They make use of groundwater in irrigating their farmlands, and they construct qanats almost everywhere and always succeed in extracting groundwater.”
The dynasty of Qajar ruled Iran from the 16th century to the early 18th century. According to Goblot, the time of Qajar can be considered as the heyday of qanats, for the qanats could flourish. Agha Mohammad Khan the founder of the Qajar dynasty chose Tehran as his capital city, a city where there was no access to a reliable stream of surface water and it had to rely on groundwater. The rich supply of groundwater and suitable geological-topographical conditions of Tehran allowed this city to house many qanats whose total discharge amounted to 2000 liters per second. Haj Mirza Aghasi (ruling between 1834 and 1848), the prime minister of the third king of the Qajar dynasty, encouraged and supported qanat construction throughout the country . Jaubert de Passa who surveyed the situation of irrigation in Iran reported a population of 50,000 in Hamedan, 200,000 in Isfahan and 130,000 in Tehran in the year 1840. Then he claims that in these cities life is indebted to the qanats which are being constructed in a simple but powerful manner. In a nutshell, the period of Qajar that lasted about 1.5 centuries witnessed considerable endeavors to revive and build new qanats.
During the Pahlavi period, the process of qanat construction and maintenance continued. A council that was responsible for the qanats was set up by the government. At that time most of the qanats belonged to landlords. In fact, feudalism was the prevailing system in the rural regions. The peasants were not entitled to the lands they worked on, but were considered only as the users of the lands. They had to pay rent for land and water to the landlords who could afford to finance all the proceedings required to maintain the qanats, for they were relatively wealthy. According to the report of Safi Asfiya, who was in charge of supervising the qanats of Iran in the former regime, in the year 1942 Iran had 40,000 qanats with a total discharge of 600,000 liters per second or 18.2 billion cubic meters per year. In 1961, another report was published revealing that in Iran there were 30,000 qanats of which just 20,000 were still in use, with a total output of 560,000 lit/se or 17.3 billion cubic meters per year. In 1959 a reformed program named as the White Revolution was declared by the former Shah. One of the articles of this program addressed the land reform that let peasants take ownership of part of the landlords’ lands. In fact, the land reform meant that the landlords lost their motivation for investing more money in constructing or repairing the qanats which were subject to the Lnd Reform Law. On the other hand, the peasants could not come up with the money to maintain the qanats, so many qanats were gradually abandoned. The introduction of modern devices, that made it possible to drill many deep wells and extract groundwater much more quickly, accelerated the qanats’ destruction. The pumped wells had a negative impact on the qanats due to their overexploitation of the groundwater. These changes, that occurred in Mohammad Reza Shah's reign, inflicted great damage on the qanats of the country so that many qanats vanished forever. The statistics related to 14,778 qanats estimates the overall discharge of these qanats to be 6.2 billion cubic meters per year between the years 1972 and 1973. If we assume the total number of the qanats at that time to be 32,000, their annual discharge would have amounted to 12 billion cubic meters. In 1963, the Ministry of Water and Electricity was established in order to provide the rural and urban areas of the country with sufficient water and electricity. Later, this Ministry was renamed the Ministry of Energy. Three years later, in 1966, the parliament passed a law protecting groundwater resources. According to this law, the Ministry of Water and Electricity was allowed to ban drilling any deep or semi-deep wells wherever surveys showed that the water table was dropping because of over pumping. In fact, this law was passed only after the growing number of the pumped wells sounded the alarm about over pumping and depletion of groundwater leading to the decline in qanat’ flow all over the country. This law, as well as the Law of Water Nationalization that was approved in 1968, and eventually the Law of Fair Distribution of water passed (in 1981) after the Islamic revolution emphasized the definition of restricted and free areas for drilling. In the restricted areas, drilling any wells (except for drinking and industry) was prohibited in order to prevent the continuous depletion of groundwater. So the rest of the qanats had a better chance to survive. After the Islamic revolution, a special attention was given to the qanats. For the first time in 1981 a conference on qanat was held in Mashhad during which the different options to mitigate the problem were explored. The organization of Jahad Sazandegi took responsibility for the rehabilitation of qanats, and subsidized their shareholders. Now the same organization which was renamed as “Ministry of Jihad Agriculture” is responsible for the qanats and continues to grant some funds to the stakeholders to maintain their qanats. During the last years, the parliament has allocated an annual budget of US$13 million to this ministry in order to go to the construction and maintenance of the qanats. Many other qanats may dry up without this budget, because the owners of the qanats do not afford to pay the whole expenses.
In the years 1984–1985 the ministry of energy took census of 28038 qanats whose total discharge was 9 billion cubic meters. In the years 1992–1993 the census of 28054 qanats showed a total discharge of 10 billion cubic meters. 10 years later in 2002–2003 the number of the qanats was reported as 33691 with a total discharge of 8 billion cubic meters.
In the year 2000, holding the International Conference on Qanats in Yazd drew a lot of attention to the qanats. In 2005 the Iranian government and UNESCO signed an agreement to set up the International Center on Qanats and Historic Hydraulic Structures (ICQHS) under the auspices of UNESCO. The main mission of this center is the recognition, transfer of knowledge and experiences, promotion of information and capacities with regard to all the aspects of qanat technology and related historic hydraulic structures. This mission aims to fulfill sustainable development of water resources and the application of the outcome of the activities in order to preserve historical and cultural values as well as the promotion of the public welfare within the communities whose existence depends on the rational exploitation of the resources and preservation of such historical structures. Another mission is to promote research and development to restore the qanats and other traditional historic hydraulic structures for sustainable development objectives through international co-operation and global transfer of knowledge and technology. According to a report published in 2005 by the Water Resources Base Studies Department affiliated to the Ministry of Energy, there are 15 Regional Water Authorities throughout the country, based in 30 provinces, conducting research projects on water resources in 609 study sites. Each study site is the smallest research unit, containing one or several catchments. Out of 609 study sites, 214 sites with an overall area of 991,256 square kilometers have been declared as restricted regions, and 395 sites with an area of 630648 square kilometers are considered free. In the restricted regions there are 317,225 wells, qanats and springs that discharge 36,719 million cubic meters water a year, out of which 3409 million cubic meters is surplus to the aquifer capacity. This deficit in the volume of the aquifer reserves has led to a long-term groundwater level drop of 41 centimeters a year, on average. In the free regions, the number of wells, qanats and springs amounts to 241,091 with an output of 37,527 million cubic meters a year. Therefore, in 2005, in the country as a whole, there were 130,008 deep wells with a discharge of 31,403 million cubic meter, 33,8041 semi deep wells with a discharge of 13,491 million cubic meters, 34,355 qanats with a discharge of 8,212 million cubic meters, and 55,912 natural springs with a discharge of 21,240 million cubic meters
AbAnbars have a long history in Iran, and there are still some AbAnbars remaining today from the 13th century. These reservoirs would be subterranean spaces that were connected to the network of Kariz in the city. A typical residential AbAnbars would be located in the enclosed garden, have the capacity to hold 50 cubic meters, would be filled once every two weeks, and have its inside surfaces cleaned from sediments once a year (called layeh-rubi).
Soon public AbAnbars were constructed throughout cities across Persia such as Qazvin, Yazd, Naeen, Kashan, Zavareh, Ray, Shiraz, Herat, Balkh, and others. At the beginning of the 20th century, the number of public ab anbars in Qazvin, for example, was recorded to be 120000. Yet Iran still has 30,000 active Qanat systems today.
Accounts differ, but the water quality generally seemed to be satisfactory. Water temperatures of Kashan’s famous Qanat of Chashmeh-i Soleiman amidst the July heat is typically around 25 degrees Celsius. Furthermore,
AbAnbars tend to further lower the temperature of the water due to the fascinating heat resistance properties of the construction material used. Near freezing temperatures of the water can readily be observed in the desert central city of Naeen during summer, inside an AbAnbars that employs multiple wind catchers. Thus the Qanat/AbAnbars system was easily able to supply the needs of many growing cities (such as medieval Qazvin) year round.
- Qanat is Iranian cultural and social and scientific heritage, Dr. Mohammad Ajam, second national seminar on Qanat 2003,Gonabad.
- Qanat is Iranian cultural and social and scientific heritage, Mohammad Ajam, second national seminar on qanat 2003,Gonabad.published in
http://www.afarinesh-daily.com/
- https://www.aftabir.com/ - https://www.isna.ir/
- Khorasan Morning Newspaper of Iran, http://parssea.org/?p=2734 - http://bankmaghale.ir - https://b2n.ir/843276
Farhikhtegan daily, -Afarinesh daily.
- Underground Aqueducts Handbook, ed. Andreas N. Angelakis, Eustathios Chiotis, Saeid Eslamian, Herbert Weingartner, page 140
-Semsar Yazdi Ali Asghar, Labbaf Khaneiki Majid, 2011, Qanat in its Cradle; Volume 1, Iran: International Center on Qanats and Historic Hydraulic Structures (ICQHS), pp 75–145
The qanat of the Greatest Western Erg, Boualem Remini and Bachir Achour, Journal (American Water Works Association), Vol. 105, No. 5, International (May 2013), p. 104; "Even though some uncertainty remains regarding the origin of the qanat, several authors agree that this hydraulic system was born in the northwest region of Iran more than 3,000 years ago (Hussain et al, 2008; Kazemi, 2004).
https://web.archive.org/web/20201112205025/http://parssea.org/?p=1371
دکتر محمد عجم
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