Kariz (Qanat): An ancient solution for the future - Ali Hadizadeh Moghadam - SKYSEF 2016

KARIZ
AN ANCIENT SOLUTION
FOR THE FUTURE
Ali Hadizadeh Moghadam
Rahyar Educational Complex, Tehran, Iran
KARIZ,未来のための古い手段
Rahyar
Educational Complex

What is a Kariz?
Kariz って何ですか？
A Kariz (Qanat) is a man-made underground
structure for conveying groundwater from inside a
mountain or a hill, where aquifers are, to less
elevated arid or semi-arid areas, where human
settlements exist.
Kariz (Qanat) は、地下水を山方面から水の少ない
地域に水を届けるための人間により作られた地
下設備です。
KARIZ, AN ANCIENT SOLUTION FOR THE FUTURE
Ali Hadizadeh Moghadam, Rahyar Educational Complex, Tehran, Iran, August 2016
2

Why did I choose this research subject?
この問題を調査した理由:
To introduce Kariz technology as an efficient
ancient groundwater extraction and conveyance
method, and to suggest combining it with modern
techniques and technologies and using it to help
water crisis management in arid areas.
Kariz と言う古い設備を、今の最新テクノロジー
と共に水の減少している地域で使う事により、
世界的の水の減少問題を解決する事ができると
考えました。
3

What is going to be presented for you about
Karizes:
Facts
History
Construction method
Applications
Management aspects
Applicability in the modern era
4

They are used…
• to supply clean water for
drinking and irrigation.
• in natural cooling systems.
• for facilitating ice storages.
• for running watermills.
• …
5
“Persian garden in summer”
Artist: Berit Bredahl Nielsen
Karizes…
• are reliable and renewable sources of water.
• cause no damage to the environment.
• use only the force of gravity to transfer groundwater.
• have low life-cycle operation and maintenance costs.
• convey water with less evaporation, even in dry areas.

Iranian Ministry of Energy:
• About 36,300 Karizes in Iran
• Average Kariz tunnel length: about 6 km
• Average sum of Kariz wells’ depth: about 4 km
• = about 376,068 km of Kariz tunnels and wells in Iran
• ≈ 97.9% of the distance between the moon and the earth
6

In the early part of the first millennium B.C., Persians started
constructing Karizes for extracting groundwater.
During the period 550 - 331 BC, when the Persian kingdom
extended from the Indus to the Nile, Kariz technology spread
throughout the empire.
7
Photograph of Persepolis and Kariz wells
Image credit: Oriental Institute of the
University of Chicago
Kariz technology diffusion model
Image credit: waterhistory.org

8
An underground layer of rock, sand, etc. which contains water
Gallery
Shaft wells
Exit point
Farm
Aquifer
Mother well

9
Gallery
Shaft wells
Exit point
Farm
Aquifer
Mother well
An almost horizontal tunnel dug to get access to groundwater
reserves, and to transfer water to the ground

10
Gallery
Shaft wells
Exit point
Farm
Aquifer
Mother well
Where the gallery and the ground surface intersect

11
Gallery
Shaft wells
Exit point
Farm
Aquifer
Mother well
Dug from the surface to the gallery, mainly for:
• pulling out excavated materials
• sending down and pulling out the needed tools, workers, etc.
• ventilating the gallery

12
Gallery
Shaft wells
Exit point
Farm
Aquifer
Mother well
Usually the first and the deepest well

13
Gallery
Shaft wells
Exit point
Farm
Aquifer
Mother well
The cultivated area which is less elevated than the exit point

14
Kariz shaft well, gallery and exit point
The line of dots formed by the debris craters around Kariz shaft wells

15
Karizes are constructed by workers called “Muqanni”s, who are
skilled in surveying, geology, hydrology and engineering.
Fact: Due to underground construction risks, Muqannis say a
prayer before entering a Kariz, and they will not go to work on a
day they consider unlucky.

16
Step 1: Find an aquifer
Step 2: Determine the exit point
CONSTRUCTION
Farm
Mountainside
Aquifer

17
CONSTRUCTION
Empty horizontal cylinder and
leveling rod
Fact: Mohammad Ibn al-Hassan al-Hasib Karaji, a great but almost unknown
Iranian mathematician and engineer in the 10th century A.D. has explained
some of the levels used hundreds of years ago for calculating height difference
in "Extraction of hidden waters”.
Protractor and arrow
Water level, made of a bucket and two hoses

Considering the slope
of the gallery
18
Step 1: Find an aquifer
Step 2: Determine exit point
CONSTRUCTION
H
h1
h2
h1 + h2 + ...
hn
+ hn = H
Step 3: Construct the gallery and shaft wells
The exit point

19
APPLICATIONS
• Irrigation and drinking • Passive cooling system • Ice storage • Watermill
The primary applications of Kariz water are supplying
drinking water, irrigation and providing animals with water.

20
APPLICATIONS
Karizes, when used in conjunction with a wind catcher, can provide cool air as well as
being a water supply source in buildings in arid areas. A wind catcher is a chimney-
like structure positioned above a house with openings around the top, which refreshes
the air in the house because of the wind flow (the Bernoulli effect).
Fact: The "Kariz / wind catcher" cooling system has been used in desert climates for over
1000 years.

21
APPLICATIONS
Fact: By 400 BC, Persian engineers had mastered the technique of storing ice in
the middle of the summer in the desert.
In winter, the Kariz water was channeled to the north side of an east-west
direction wall to freeze in the wall’s shade. Then it was transferred to the
nearby ice storage. An ice storage is a semi-underground structure with thick
insulated walls and a hole on the top for air refreshment.

22
APPLICATIONS
Kariz water force can also be used to drive water-wheels and turn stone mills
to make flour.

23
Fair water allocation
A fair Kariz water allocation system should be
in place for distributing water between
water users, both for irrigation and drinking.
MANAGEMENT
An inflow water clock
A Kariz gallery
Repair and maintenance
Periodic maintenance and cleaning of
the gallery is required as sediments
might be accumulated in the gallery
after years of water flow.

24
CONCLUSION
Kariz, as an ancient Iranian groundwater exploitation and
conveyance system, provides an excellent demonstration of
human ingenuity to cope with water shortage.
Karizes can be improved…
• with support from governments, investors and
research institutes.
• using modern tools, techniques and technologies,
such as…

25
CONCLUSION
Concrete pipes and well rings
Topographic surveyingModern methods for
groundwater exploration
Water well drilling rigs
Drilling tools

26
The United Nations and other international organizations are
encouraging the revitalization of traditional water harvesting
and supply technologies in arid areas.
“Water is a finite and irreplaceable
resource that is fundamental to
human well-being. It is only
renewable if well managed.”
CONCLUSION
Kariz technology is important because…
• it is an efficient groundwater extraction and conveyance
method.
• it is eco-friendly.
• it can help water crisis management in arid areas.

27
REFERENCES
• HOJAT, 2006, "Impact of land reform on the rural areas of Iran", Journal of Fine Arts, No.26.
• SANIZADEH, 2008, "Novel hydraulic structures & water management in Iran: A historical
perspective", Water culture & water conflict in the Mediterranean area, n. 83, p. 2 5-43.
• MAHDAVINEJAD & JAVANRUDI, 2012, "A Sustainable method to storage ice in hot-arid
climates", Asian Culture and History, Vol. 4, No. 2.
• WULFF, 1968, "The Qanats of Iran," Scientific American, April 1968, p. 94-105.
• RAHIMI, 2008, "Karaji's Levels", Magazine of History of Science, Vol. 7, p. 74 - 55.
• NASIRI & MAFAKHERI, 2015, "Qanat Water Supply Systems: A Revisit of Sustainability
Perspectives". Environmental Systems Research. doi:10.1186/s40068-015-0039-9.
• SEMSAR YAZDI, 2011,"Qanat; an Ancient Technique for Adapting to New Climate Changes",
Journal of Arid Land Studies.

28
Thank you for your attention
Question and Answer
どうもありがとうございました
質問と答え
hadizadeh.ali@gmail.com
The registration
of Karizes as an
Iranian Globally
Important
Agricultural
Heritage
System in
UNESCO
July 2016

Kariz (Qanat): An ancient solution for the future - Ali Hadizadeh Moghadam - SKYSEF 2016

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Kariz (Qanat): An ancient solution for the future - Ali Hadizadeh Moghadam - SKYSEF 2016