The Persian Qanat

The Persian Qanat

Qanat or Kariz comprises of underground horizontal channels with gentle slope that deliver subterranean water to vertical shafts. Skillful and experienced workers calculated the level, length, and slope of qanat through traditional methods.

Through qanats, Iranians made life possible in arid plateaus and brought water up for agriculture and drinking. Besides, some qanats also involve a place for qanat workers to rest and shower, while some of which had even watermills. This application of qanat offers an exclusive cultural tradition and collective management of water reservoir over centuries. This is the reason that the Iranian central plateau’s civilization is known as Qanat Civilization. What is more, in many rural regions, qanat is still used for agriculture.

Qasebeh Qanat (Khorasan Razavi): This oldest and largest qanat in the world was excavated between 4^th to 6^th centuries BC, at the time of the Achaemenid Empire. This qanat consists of more than 400 shafts, while the mother shaft (main shaft) has 300-meter depth.

Mozd Abad Qanat (Isfahan): The presence of stalactites and stalagmites in this qanat represents an exclusive feature of a cave. Archaeological excavations suggest that this qanat is the second oldest qanat in Iran and exists since two thousand years ago.

Qanat of Baladeh (South Khorasan): The construction of this qanat dates back to Sassanid Empire. The shaping and development of Ferdows city and its surrounded villages were highly depended on this qanat. It includes 15 shafts and four fluent wells.

Qanat of Zarch (Yazd): With a length of 120 km, qanat of Yazd is the longest one in Iran. This Sassanid qanat mind-blowingly consists of two thousand and fifteen shafts.

Hasan Abad-e Moshir Qanat (Yazd): This qanat was constructed in the 14^th century CE in Mehriz. The qanat’s relatively high discharge rate and low depth stretched between Mehriz and Yazd, and the quality of water have made this qanat singular. Since the water stream in the channels are salt and limestone free, people of distant areas can have pure water of no residual minerals.

Qanat of the Moon (Isfahan): This 800-year-old qanat is exclusive because it involves two separated levels and water and each level are not connected.

Qanat of Vazvan (Isfahan): The qanat of Vazvan with 1800-meter length was built at the time of Sassanid. Three underground dams are constructed on its channels. The exclusive feature of this qanat is the feasibility of closing its exit shaft in winters. In turn, this function helps to save water behind dams for agriculture use later in spring.

Qanat of Gowhar-riz (Kerman): Gohar-riz is a fully operational qanat in Jupar built in Safavid era. With a total of 3556-meter channels, it waters more than 330-hectare arid lands in Kerman province.

Ebrahim Abad Qanat (Markazi): The qanat of Ebrahim Abad (12^th century CE) consists of 311 shafts and the mother shafts built on high lands.

Ghāsem Abad and Akbar Abad Qanats (Kerman): These two lines of qanats close together have provided sufficient water for farming and agriculture for many villages in Kerman.