Assessment of the Contributions of Traditional Qanats in Sustainable Water Resources Management

Water Collection and Distribution Systems in the Palermo Plain during the Middle Ages

“…In arid climates where erosion rates are minimal, even ancient qanāts are easily identified in aerial photos as lines of craters formed by the deposition of excavation material around vertical shafts which can reach the depth of 100 m and have a spacing of 20-100 m [11]. Their bottom is connected by a tunnel about 1 m wide and 2 m high in which water is freely flowing by gravity away from the main well (mother well) to lower and flatter agricultural lands [7]. The flow of water in qanāts is proportionate to the available supply in the aquifer and when properly maintained, these infiltration channels provide a dependable supply of water for centuries.…”

“…Apparently originating in pre-Achaemenid Persia, tunnel-wells spread to Egypt, the Levant, and Arabia into Achaemenid times (550-331 BCE) [5,6]. Successively, the Arabs carried qanāts across North Africa into Spain and Cyprus; they are also found in Central Asia, western China, and on a more limited scale in dry regions of Latin America [3,7,8]. As consequence of this wide diffusion, 27 titles pertaining to qanāt can be counted around the world [3,4,9,10].…”

Sedimentology Studies and Environmental Impacts of Land Subsidence in Eslamshahr, SW Tehran, Iran

“…The collapses in Tehran might have been triggered by various reasons such as gas explosion, subway tunnel excavation or water pipe breaks but ultimately they are resulted from depleting ground water resources (Fig.1). One of the major causes of this problem is human negligence and their insufficient knowledge in groundwater extraction (Shemshaki, 2005;Mosavi, 2003;Motiee, et al, 2006). By developing of agriculture and reducing surface water, people tried to seek ways to exploit underground water, without sufficient attention to the manner of the revitalization of these reservoirs (Zektser and Lorne, 2004;Peduzzi, 2009;Chaussard et al,2014;Dixon et al, 2006;Ghorbanbeigi et al, 2008).…”

An appraisal of the qualifying role of hydraulic heritage systems: a case study of Qanats in central Iran

“…Voudouris et al (2013) link the ancient Greeks" water management skills to "aqueduct-like" Qanat technology that was developed by Persians in the middle of the 1 st millennium BC. There are concerns about dealing with Qanats, as Motiee et al (2006) highlight notions of "traditional water management", rehabilitation and the renovation of Qanats and Qanats" rights, particularly for large urban areas. Hosseini et al (2010) and Martínez-Santos and Martínez-Alfaro (2014) have also documented the effects of urban sprawl upon Qanats in the North-East of Iran and Madrid, respectively.…”