Qanat System

Qanat System

News: Recently, few places in Africa’s dry areas face serious water shortages due to minimal rainfall. An ancient system of drawing water from aquifers, the “qanat system”, could help.

What is Qanat system?
• The Qanat system, also known as kārīz, is an ancient method for transporting water from an aquifer or water well to the surface, through an underground aqueduct. This system originated approximately 3,000 years ago in what is now Iran.
• The Qanat system is constructed as a series of welllike vertical shafts, connected by a gently sloping tunnel. This taps into underground water and delivers it to the surface by gravity, without the need for pumping.
• The vertical shafts along the underground channel are purely for maintenance purposes, and water is typically used only once it emerges from the daylight point.

Significance:
• This system allows water to be transported over long distances in hot dry climates without losing much of the water to evaporation. It is 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.