Iranian academics, European fellows to look at ways of preserving Persian qanats

A project aimed to safeguard Persian qanats will be carried out with the cooperation of an international team from Iran (University of Tehran), France (University of Montpellier), as well as researchers from Denmark (University of Copenhagen), IRNA quoted an official from the University of Tehran as saying on Saturday.

The UNESCO-registered qanat system is a magnificent example of a technological ensemble illustrating significant stages in the history of human occupation of arid and semi-arid regions. Those underground tunnel systems bring infiltrated groundwater, surface water, or spring water to the Earth's surface using only gravitational force.

The experts will investigate the effects of human activities and climate change on the quantity and quality of water in Persian qanats, and provide solutions to protect these water transmission structures, which date some three thousand years, the official said.

“In addition, the experts will evaluate the condition of Persian aqueducts in the last two decades in terms of water quantity and quality.”

Changes in land use, the sharp drop in underground water tables, and the lack of proper governance in the field of water resources are among the elements to be taken into account, the official added.

Earlier this year, Kerman province, which is home to many qanats, hosted a three-day conference in which tens of experts discussed ways to preserve the time-honored heritage.

The Persian Qanat system is a magnificent example of a technological ensemble illustrating significant stages in the history of human occupation of arid and semi-arid regions.

The concept of “Persian Qanat” was registered on the UNESCO World Heritage list in 2016, representing eleven aqueducts across Iran. According to the UN cultural body, the qanat provides exceptional testimony to cultural traditions and civilizations in desert areas with an arid climate.

It works based on complex calculations and exceptional architectural qualities as water is collected and transported by mere gravity over long distances and these transport systems were maintained over centuries and, at times, millennia. The qanat system enabled settlements and agriculture but also inspired the creation of a desert-specific style of architecture and landscape involving not only the qanats themselves, but their associated structures, such as water reservoirs, mills, irrigation systems, and gardens.

When it comes to architectural elements, each qanat comprises an almost horizontal tunnel collecting water from an underground water source, usually an alluvial fan, into which a mother well is sunk to the appropriate level of the aquifer. Well, shafts are sunk at regular intervals along the route of the tunnel to enable the removal of spoil and allow ventilation. These appear as craters from above, following the line of the qanat from the water source to the agricultural settlement. The water is transported along underground tunnels, so-called Koshkan, using gravity due to the gentle slope of the tunnel to the exit (Mazhar), from where it is distributed by channels to the agricultural land of the shareholders.

Furthermore, the levels, gradient, and length of the qanat are calculated by traditional methods requiring the skills of experienced qanat workers and have been handed down over centuries. Many qanats have sub-branches and water access corridors for maintenance purposes, as well as dependant structures including rest areas for the qanat workers, public and private hammams, reservoirs, and watermills. The traditional communal management system still in place allows equitable and sustainable water sharing and distribution.

The eleven qanats forming, a collective UNESCO World Heritage, are still active water carriers and have retained not only their architectural and technological structures but also their function.

Courtesy of Tehran  Times.