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Written by Adriana de Aguinaga
September 2011
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For over 2,000 years Iranians have dug qanats, underground water channels, to transport water from its source to cities. While on holidays in Yazd, a large oasis city in the middle of two deserts in central Iran, we had the opportunity to visit several of the traditional infrastructure systems devised by Iranians to supply and store drinking water for populations and for irrigation. While there are many ancient qanats still in use, Iranians continue digging new qanats today.
The first step is to find a water source and to dig a well until the water is reached. Sometimes wells are over 20 meters deep. The next step is to protect the walls of the well by inserting cement rings, one on top of the other, to ensure its stability and durability. We were lucky to see this process in the desert town of Kharanaq in central Iran.
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This is usually done by a qanat builder who is lowered inside the well using a wooden artifact called “charkh-e chah” or well wheel, which is similar to a weaving wheel but of course much bigger and sturdier. Traditionally, qanat builders dressed in white to make it easier to be spotted in the dark. After the well is protected, the qanat builder begins digging the qanats or channels, sometimes very narrow and long, to enable the water to flow to its destination.
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At its destination the water was stored in a large “ab anbar” or water reservoir, a hollow structure made of bricks resembling a huge conical form at times reaching 30 meters in height and 22 meters in diameter. In downtown Yazd, the beautiful water reservoir located in the northern side of the Amir Chakhmaq square was built 500 years ago.
The brick dome covers a huge underground reservoir and is flanked by five “badgirs” or wind towers which were used to cool the water and keep it fresh. This water reservoir presently houses a club for the practice of “Zurkhaneh” or house of strength, a traditional body building workout for men.
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At present this reservoir is empty, but for many years the population of Yazd came here everyday to get their drinking water. A leather bucket was lowered with a rope to get the water and fill the ceramic jars or other receptacles of the inhabitants who came to fetch the water.
Another amazing engineering structure we saw in a couple of cities in the middle of the desert, such as in Meybod, was the “yakh dan” or “mud brick ice house”, a huge construction in the shape of an egg where ice blocks were stored in winter. Water was left outdoors to freeze at night and then the ice blocks would be brought into the ice house to keep the ice from melting.
Seeing several of these water supply, water storage and ice storage systems in the middle of the Iranian desert, we could not stop from being surprised by such amazing engineering and sophisticated infrastructure systems!
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