Forty million dollars have been earmarked for rehabilitating qanats this year, up 170% compared to the last fiscal year, head of the water affairs department of the Agricultural Jihad Organization, said.
“The funds are expected to help recondition 40 qanats mainly in Yazd, Sistan-Baluchistan and South Khorasan provinces,” Reza Sarafrazi was quoted as saying by ILNA.
Each underground aqueduct will receive a fixed amount depending on factors such as location, restoration needs and tourism capacity, Sarafrazi said.
"Among the estimated 38,000 qanats in the country 11 have received UNESCO status."
South Khorasan, Yazd, Kerman, Isfahan and Markazi provinces are home to the 11 qanats on UNESCO's World Heritage List.
According to the official, 15 were restored in 2020 and cost $15 million. “Close to 14% of the Iran’s water for farming comes from qanats that irrigate 800,000 hectares of farmlands and fruit gardens.”
Policy and decision makers are gradually realizing that sustainable water supply, environmental protection and growth of the key agro sector, among other things, in part demands the revival of qanats.
For centuries, human societies in dry lands have overcome the challenge of water scarcity through traditional methods of water harvesting.
Qanat technology is one. It is the generic term for an ancient environmentally sustainable water harvesting and conveyance technique believed to have originated in Persia in the early first millennium B.C.
With their timely rehab water shortages in the dry regions like Yazd can be alleviated, he said, and concurred that many qanats have fallen into disrepair. The remaining are threatened by silt sedimentation in canals, urban migration and lack of skills to improve such systems.
Indispensable Role
Referring to Yazd, the hottest region north of the Persian Gulf, he said although qanats play an indispensable role in the desert region, of the 6,500 nearly 4,000 are unusable.
Almost 20% of water for farming in Yazd comes from 2,500 qanats that help irrigate 30,000 hectares of farms in Ashkezar, Abarkuh Zarch, Taft, Ardakan and Herat.
“Many qanats have dried up due to deeper wells, drought, floods and meager rehabilitation.”
As the water crisis worsens, the volume of water that can be extracted from the subterranean infrastructure is decreasing rapidly.
“In 2019 almost 170,000 liters of water was drawn every day from the qanats. In 1998 it was at least 400,000 liters,”
Although there are qanats (in Khatam County) that are full, large numbers have either been abandoned or on the verge of drying up because of silt sedimentation in canals, migration and shortage of skilled workers for dredging.
In mountainous regions like Taft and Mehriz counties, close to 70% of water for farming is taken from the qanats and their timely and effective rehabilitation should be on the Energy Ministry agenda, Sarafrazi stressed.
“The livelihood of 30,000 farmers depends on qanats” in the hot and arid region where water deficits have become part of life in the ancient land.
While qanats cannot replace advanced technology in water resources management, they still have a role to play as a known sustainable groundwater source since time immemorial.
As a traditional technique for accessing and managing underground water, qanats have been used throughout history in different parts of the world—in the Middle East, around the Mediterranean, in the Americas, and even in west China. Although its exact history and origin is disputable, it is believed to be an Iranian invention and has been in use forever in Iran.
