IWA Specialized Conference on Water&Wastewater 22-24 March 2012

Technologies in Ancient Civilizations Istanbul-Turkey

MN-057
Water Catchment Tunnels: Qanat, Foggara, Falaj. An
Ecosystem Vision

P.Laureano

Ipogea, President of ITKI (International Traditional Knowledge Institute)

(Email: ipogea@ipogea.org)

Abstract The paper highlights the characteristics of the water catchment tunnels generally
designated by the term qanat, which is commonly used in Iran, but they have different
names and are common in many geographic areas. The extreme difference in the
functioning of the various catchment tunnels is underlined. An emphasis is placed on the
operating mode of a catchment tunnel that highly depends on environmental and
topographical circumstances as well as the seasons, the alterations in climatic conditions,
and the long-term climatic cycles. Starting from a critical assessment of the classical
qanat functioning diagram the paper proposes a new classification based on an
ecosystem vision. The basic aspects of the catchment tunnels taken in account are: the
geomorphologic situation, the characteristics of the groundwater, the condition of the soil and
subsoil, the diversification of the tunnel’s components in a filtering segment and in a
conveying segment, and the exchanges and interactions with the atmosphere. The qanats
are constituted from the underground tunnel dug in light slope parallel to the ground and by
the vertical shafts. The tunnel does not dip into the aquifer, therefore, it drains the upper part,
often through its walls, as it crosses that part of the soil where the exchanges between deep
waters and surface-saturation waters are greatest. Continuous exchanges take place
between the air above and below ground, and one consequence of this circulation is the
condensation of water in the soil when the ground temperature is low enough. It is precisely
in these exchanges and interactions that catchment tunnels intervene. The airshaft and the
filtering tunnel walls work to absorb the humidity and to produce water. Between the extreme
conditions - collecting water from a spring or from ground sources, or producing water by
exploiting contributions from the atmosphere (humidity, occult precipitation, aerial sources) -
lies the full range of catchment tunnels classified in four main categories of ecosystem:
mountain, foothill, plain, depression. Instead of regarding the catchment tunnels as a
homogeneous technique applied with different names in different countries the paper shows
the great differences in the functioning systems of the qanats within Iran itself and in the
various countries, and also of the change in the ways of operating of the same tunnel in
different seasons and climatic conditions. In the proposed vision the catchment tunnels are
the product of complex procedures, the point of arrival of diverse experiences developed in
different areas and adapted to local geographical situations, so much so as to operate with
various methods through space and time.
Keywords ecosystem; qanat; water catchment tunnels; water condensation; water
techniques

BACKGROUND
Making water flow where there is none, irrigating orchards, gardens and oases using gravity
alone, without the need for pumps or lifting systems, long tunnels penetrate underground for
miles, along a gradient that is very nearly level, and whose constant slope is perfectly
calculated to convey water into the open air precisely where cultivations require. Tunnels of
this sort have been in use for three thousand years and are described with wonder by
ancient authors. They appear in an inscription of the seventh century BC traceable to the
Assyrian king Sargon II; they are cited by the Greek historian Polybius in the second century
BC (Histories, X, 28); they are described in Chinese chronicles of the Han Dynasty reporting

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events of 53 BC (Wang, 1993) and they are present in many agricultural manuals of the Arab
tradition, from the monumental work of the first century AD on Nabatean agriculture (Ibn
Wahsiya, Al-filaha el Nabatiya), to the eleventh-century treatise of al-Karagi (Karagi, Kitab
inbat al miyah al hafiyya). They are generally designated by the term qanat, which is
commonly used in Iran, but they have different names and are common in many geographic
areas, from Asia, Europe and Africa to Oceania and America: qanat in Iraq and in Iran, karez
in China and along the Silk Road, falaj in Oman, surangan in India, khettara in Morocco,
foggara in Algeria, guettara and m’louka in Tunisia, madjirat, cimbras, minas and zanias in
Spain, cunicoli, ingruttati and bottini in Italy, mambo in Japan. Studies of catchment tunnels
have become increasingly numerous in the last four decades (Beaumont, 1971; Kobori,
1973; Kobori, 1976; Sajjadi, 1982; Kobori, 1982; Bonine, 1987; Kobori, 1989; Kobori, 1990;
Qanat Bibliography, 2000; Briant, 2001; Kobori, 2005; Hermosilla, 2006; Tosi et al., 2007;
Semsar Yazdi et al., 2010; Hermosilla et al., 2011). Despite this growing interest, however,
there is not yet, in general culture, a univocal definition of these tunnels and a precise notion
of how they work, so that commonly used encyclopedias still define the way they are able to
provide water as “mysterious”. This is due to the fact that many publications use the same
basic information, drawn from the work of Henry Goblot, a French engineer who did his
research in Iran. His book, Les qanat. Une technique d’acquisition de l’eau (Goblot, 1979),
based on his doctoral dissertation of 1963, became the source for most of the works that
followed. The qanat diagram he drew up, with a section view of a tunnel, the geological strata
and an indication of the aquifer, is reproduced in nearly every publication (Figure 1). But this
scheme is flawed and does not represent the complex reality of the system. Xavier Planhol
notes that Goblot received a good deal of criticism when defending his dissertation (Planhol,
1992). This concerned the acceptance by Goblot of many clichés, false impressions and
considerations that led to arbitrary conclusions. Nevertheless, Goblot’s scheme has been
used in most subsequent studies, with the result that the analysis of a specific situation has
become a false generalization. Catchment tunnels, on the contrary, are complex inventions,
the culmination of many different experiences conducted in many different areas and
adapted to geographical conditions in such a way that their modes of operation differ in both
space and time. It is therefore impossible to understand catchment tunnels on the basis of
observations made in one place at one time. Account must be taken of the extreme
difference in the functioning of the various qanats in Iran alone, not to mention other
countries, as well as of the way the operating mode of a single tunnel may change with the
seasons, with alterations in climatic conditions, or in the course of long-term cycles.

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Figure 1. Classic catchment tunnel diagram according to Goblot. (A: position of the
tunnel, section view; B: detail of the section view; C: overhead view; a: aquifer; b:
impermeable layer; c: horizontal tunnel; d: vertical shafts; e: surface channels; f:
settlement and/or irrigated area; g: filtering segment; h: conveying segment)(Goblot,
1979).

FUNCTIONALITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS

The working of a catchment tunnel is highly dependent on environmental and topographical
circumstances. Different geographic variables thus determine different types of catchment
tunnel. In addition, a single catchment tunnel, working with water resources that are not
apparent, as they are the result of complex relationships with the ecosystem, often has
different seasonal and periodical water procurement modes. These are the main deficiencies
of the commonly used water-tunnel scheme proposed by Goblot. The greatest issues
concern two basic aspects of catchment tunnels: the characteristics of the groundwater, and
the diversification of the tunnel’s filtering and conveying components. Goblot’s diagram
shows an important aquifer that breaks the surface to produce open water downstream of the
tunnel. In reality this case is rare, even in tunnels in the mountains of Iran. More often, the
layers containing water do not appear on the surface, even further downstream, and the
tunnels are made expressly to catch water in areas where it is not naturally present on the
ground. In Goblot’s scheme, the tunnel bores through an abundant aquifer with the part of its
course that becomes conveying, while the other part takes on filtering functions. Under this
circumstance, however, the tunnel would flood with water under pressure, which would fill the
vertical shafts to the highest level of the aquifer (Figure 2).

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Figure 2. Author critical assessment of the Goblot classical catchment tunnel

diagram. (A: position of the tunnel, section view; B: detail of the section view; C:
overhead view; a: aquifer; b: impermeable layer; c: horizontal tunnel; d: vertical
shafts; e: surface channels; f: settlement and/or irrigated area; g: filtering segment;
h: conveying segment; i: water pressure; j: aquifer level; X: errors in the Goblot’s
diagram).

The reality of catchment tunnels is quite different (Laureano, 1988). Water flows slowly in the
bottom of the tunnel, increasing its volume as it goes. The tunnel does not dip into the
aquifer, therefore, it drains the upper part, often through its walls, as it crosses that part of
the soil where the exchanges between deep waters and surface-saturation waters are
greatest. To take account of seasonal and climatic variations, the relationship between the
conveying and filtering segments varies—in each single tunnel, and as a function of the
tunnel type. Environmental contexts range from humid ecosystems, which may hold varying
amounts of water, to conditions of extreme aridity. It should be noted that the terms “humid”
and “arid” refer to the surface condition and indicate the presence or absence of open water.
The condition of the soil and subsoil may be different. In deserts, in fact, water, which is
minimal in the atmosphere and nonexistent on the surface, is present in the soil. And it is not
always the water of deep aquifers. Under all conditions, the atmospheric water cycle takes
place not only in the open air, but underground as well. The atmosphere in fact does not end
where the air meets the soil, it continues in the deep layers. Continuous exchanges take
place between the air above and below ground, and one consequence of this circulation is
the condensation of water in the soil when the ground temperature is low enough. It is
precisely in these exchanges and interactions that catchment tunnels intervene (Figure
3)(Laureano, 2005).

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Figure 3. Water catchment tunnels hydro atmospheric cycle and water condensation
in the soil and in the sub-soil (1: atmospheric humidity; 2: condensation in the
tunnels; 3: water run-off; 4: humidity in the coltivations; 5: absorption of the
humidity; 6: output of dry air; a: aquifer; b: impermeable layer; c: horizontal tunnel;
d: vertical shafts; e: surface channels; f: settlement and/or irrigated area; j: aquifer
level; k: fluctuations in aquifer level). The air full of moisture of the palm grove is
sucked out by the foggara in the opposite direction to the water run-off; it
condenses in the tunnel and comes out of the shafts as dry air. During the night the
temperature decreases and determines a further moisture condensation on the soil
surface that is absorbed by the shafts and the tunnel (Laureano, 2005).

The tunnel absorbs and condenses the moisture coming from above, and sucks and
condenses the one from the bottom, helping to lift the water table. The cavity of the tunnel
and of the vertical shafts act as filtering gallery and condensation chamber. The vertical
shafts regulate air changes and maintain atmospheric pressure in the tunnel suitable to the
water absorption and flow. When the air is saturated, or nearly saturated, with moisture,
small differences between interior and exterior temperatures are enough to cause
condensation. The hotter the air is, the more moisture it can hold. In arid areas the
differences in temperature between the surface and the subsoil, and the wide variation in
temperature between day and night, become decisive. Condensation is also facilitated by the
capacity of water vapor to move, regardless of air movements, from points of greater tension
to points of lesser tension. Every shadow, every difference in temperature, humidity or
existing water share, further assists condensation. In the tunnels the filtering surfaces, the
stones and other asperities, the airshafts, all work together to manage the underground
hydro-atmospheric cycle.

In the typological classification of catchment tunnels that follows, preference has been given
to geomorphologic characteristics (which profoundly affect the structure of the tunnel) over
climatic conditions, even though it is clear that situations of moisture or dryness at the
surface affect how water is procured. Generally speaking, in mountain and other moisture-
rich locations, stress tends to be placed on the capture and adduction of spring water. In very
arid locations, where there is no water source at the upper level, filtering along the tunnel’s
course by capillary absorption of superficial groundwater, of the underground flows of wadis
or of atmospheric humidity, is more prevalent. Between these extreme conditions - collecting
water from a spring or from ground sources, or producing water by exploiting contributions
from the atmosphere (humidity, occult precipitation, aerial sources) - lies the full range of

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catchment tunnels’ variations and possibilities with respect to the four main categories of
ecosystem: mountain, foothill, plain, depression.

CLASSIFICATION BY ECOSYSTEMS
Mountain Catchment Tunnels
Mountain catchment tunnels take advantage of more marked humid conditions (Figure 4).
They are located at high elevations, near the summit of mountains whose strata contain
waters from seasonal snows or glaciers. The tunnel touches on an underground aquifer, a
mass of permeable rock containing groundwater. The volume of the latter varies as a
function of the season and the moisture inputs of the slope, and the catchment tunnel itself
governs its fluctuations. The mountain water catchment tunnels irrigate small shelves of land
and gentle slopes that have no perennial streams from which water intakes can be
organized, or areas in which streams are distant or at lower elevations. Generally, mountain
tunnels are not very long or deep, have a straight course, quickly achieve their goal of
capturing water, are dug in hard rocky soils and have a relatively small number of broadly
distanced vertical shafts. When they are very short they resemble the chambers of artificial
uptake sources; they are dug directly from the point of outlet and they may have no vertical
conduits at all. In these cases they are very like the wide range of water-management
techniques that extends from uptake caves to small catchment tunnels. The difference is due
to the fact that, generally, the latter serve to produce drinking water alone, whereas the
catchment tunnel is responsible for the production of more substantial resources for crops.
The possibility of using the force of gravity to irrigate fields placed downstream of the tunnel
is decisive for the latter’s location. It always has a very precise topographical position
between the mountain peak and the slopes and terraces devoted to agriculture.

Figure 4. Mountain catchment tunnels. (A: position of the tunnel, section view; B:
detail of the section view; C: overhead view; a: aquifer; b: impermeable layer; c:
horizontal tunnel; d: vertical shafts; e: surface channels; f: settlement and/or
irrigated area; j: aquifer level; k: fluctuations in aquifer level; l: water influx from the
slope; m: variations of the filtering and conveying segments).

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Foothill Catchment Tunnels

Foothill catchment tunnels are located in the transition zones between rocky mountains and
large flood plains (Figure 5). Here sedimentary materials that are very conducive to
infiltration can often be found. The tunnels irrigate plains in the vicinity of high mountains, or
wide valleys between water-retaining mountain slopes. They are located in areas whose
water supplies are produced by the scale of the surrounding mountains, with volumes similar
to those of mountain tunnels. Under high-moisture conditions, sinking exploratory shafts to
create the “mother” well, at the upper end of the catchment tunnel, is the first step toward
discovering where water is present. This has often led to the mistaken believe that
excavation proceeds from the highest elevation to the lowest, where the tunnel surfaces.
This is true, in the sense that the higher conduits and the “mother” well (test well) are dug
first, but the horizontal excavation is always conducted against the flow of water, in other
words from the lower elevations to higher ones. This is because, in humid locations,
proceeding from above would entail working with the tunnel flooded. The tunnel’s path is
sometimes windy, due to the heterogeneity of the soil, and long, to intercept a larger part of
the aquifer. The vertical shafts are closely spaced and essential to the planning of the
excavation. The level of groundwater varies over time and may be partly determined by
percolation in the slope, runoff from the mountain and atmospheric inputs. Often the tunnels
are located on the slopes of valleys of torrential streams whose water flow is minimal or
sporadic. The tunnel assures regular flows at elevations higher than the stream’s course.

Figure 5. Foothill catchment tunnels. (A: position of the tunnel, section view; B: detail
of the section view; C: overhead view; a: aquifer; b: impermeable layer; c: horizontal
tunnel d: vertical shafts; e: surface channels; f: settlement and/or irrigated area; j:
aquifer level; k: fluctuations in aquifer level; l: water influx from the slope; m:
variations of the filtering and conveying segments; n: contributions of rainfall or
occult precipitation; o: absorption by osmosis and capillarity, maintenance of the
aquifer).

Foothills are where large areas of land suitable for major crops are most likely to be found.
These are often organized on broad terraces whose extent reflects the water flow of the
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tunnel. This, by providing constant inputs, permits the creation of agriculture based on a
continuous annual water cycle and not on the intermittent or seasonal waters supplied
directly by the environment. On the lands along the gravitational path of the water from the
tunnel to the fields and settlements, family-based cooperative arrangements are organized
that evolve into corporations based on water pacts. The foothill ecosystem offers a classic
environment for extensive settlements based on catchment tunnels. The morphology of the
terrain encourages serial replication, along the slopes of mountain ranges and the walls of
plateaus, of a linear model structured by the catchment tunnel from the higher elevations to
the lower. In broad geographic contexts, such as the Iranian plateaus, multiple structures
may give rise to systems of cities and complex regional state organisms.

Catchment Tunnels Of Plains And Riverbeds

The catchment tunnels of plains and riverbeds are located on broad alluvial deposits (Figure
6). Here the water supply is less evident and is generally provided by surface resources. The
courses of the tunnels are longer and more ramified, often forming a system with many
branches rather than a single tunnel. Some are directed toward a hill or a slightly elevated
part of the plain that is able to conserve internal water resources. Others follow the bed of a
dry river that may produce sporadic floods. They may run parallel to the river’s banks or
cross its course below ground, drawing on the subsoil moisture it conveys. In arid conditions,
because of the relative evenness of the tunnel’s course, determining the site of the test well
is much less important. Digging is begun at the point of outflow, where irrigation is needed,
and proceeds up the slope in an apparently haphazard way. So the tunnels often follow
irregular and ramified courses, as though their makers had searched for the aquifer and then
pursued it in different directions.

Aerial photos show that the tunnels follow the fossilized remains of dry hydrographic
networks that are not visible on the ground, within which, thanks to their filtering capacity, the
tunnel produces water. When the tunnels burrow through areas without water, in fact, they
often run in a straight line. A winding path, because it increases the extent of filtering
surfaces intercepting the flow of water beneath the slope, has a greater ability to extract
water. The water supplies utilized are several: surface groundwater, occult precipitation, and
absorption by osmosis and capillary action (Gauthier, 1928). Sometimes these supplies are
associated with collateral works for the replenishment of water in the soil layers they pass
through, such as weirs interred in the riverbed or roadbed-torrents and other devices to direct
flooding. Into this category fall some types of coastal tunnels - those of Marsa Natrun in
Egypt, for instance, which draw off the fresh surface water that lies above denser, unusable
layers saturated with salt. Smaller structures, cisterns linked by subterranean channels, are
very similar to the so-called qanat el roumi (Roman wells) (Kobori, 1980), from which they
may have evolved. In general, plain-type catchment tunnels are long and ramified and supply
major systems of settlement. Many thriving agricultural centers, large capital cities and
caravan destinations, first arose around this kind of tunnel and subsequently expanded over
the network of gardens and surface channels that are part of the system.

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Figure 6. Catchment tunnels of plains and riverbeds. (A: position of the tunnel,
section view; B: detail of the section view; C: overhead view; a: aquifer; b:
impermeable layer; c: horizontal tunnel; d: vertical shafts; e: surface channels; f:
settlement and/or irrigated area; j: aquifer level; k: fluctuations in aquifer level; l:
water influx from the slope; m: variations of the filtering and conveying segments; n:
contributions of rainfall or occult precipitation; o: absorption by osmosis and
capillarity, maintenance of the aquifer; p: contributions of humidity – occult
precipitation; q: hills; r: fossil riverbed).

Catchment Tunnels Of Depressions

Depression catchment tunnels are specific to arid and hyper-arid zones (Figure 7). A variant
of the previous type, they are associated with geomorphologic structures that are inherent to
deserts: the great salt depressions. Called sebkhas in the Sahara, these depressions are the
remains of large lakes that are now dry, and they lie at the center of fossil river systems that
preserve small underground micro-flows. Water moves in a capillary manner toward the
depression; there it is drawn to the surface by the high temperatures and evaporates,
depositing its dissolved salts in the soil, where they form a sterile crust. Catchment tunnels
intervene in this natural hydrological dynamic by intercepting the flows before they evaporate
and producing open water that, by exploiting the gradients around the depression, make it
possible to create an oases and plant palms and crops along its edges. This type of tunnel is
typical of places of great historical and cultural importance - places of the highest
significance to human civilization in desert areas, such as the Turpan depression in China,
the city of Yazd in Iran and the Timimoun Sebkha in Algeria (Laureano, 1985). Depression
catchment tunnels do not dip into the aquifer; where it exists, they drain the top, without
causing it to sink, absorbing amounts of water that are compatible with the aquifer’s capacity
for renewal. The area where groundwater accumulates resembles a large, rocky sponge; it is
fed by the micro-flows directed toward the sebkha, by the surfacing of deep aquifers
containing persistent non-renewable geological water, and by atmospheric inputs.

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Figure 7. Catchment tunnels of Depression. (A: position of the tunnel, section view;
B: detail of the section view; C: overhead view; a: aquifer; b: impermeable layer; c:
horizontal tunnel; d: vertical shafts; e: surface channels; f: settlement and/or
irrigated area; j: aquifer level; k: fluctuations in aquifer level; l: water influx from the
slope; m: variations of the filtering and conveying segments; o: absorption by
osmosis and capillarity, maintenance of the aquifer; p: contributions of humidity –
occult precipitation; r: fossil riverbed; s: salt depression).

These are the same sources described by the medieval mathematician al-Karagi, who
identifies the tunnels’ waters as a combination of rainwater, primordial water and the
subterranean transformation of air into water. The interactions and exchanges between the
different types of water supply are crucial to the initiation of autocatalytic dynamics that
reinforce virtuous water-production cycles. Taken as a whole, the network of catchment
tunnels in desert depressions constitutes a vast system for the preservation of the aquifer. By
ensuring moisture absorption by the soil through exchanges with humidity in the air, it taps
the upper part of the aquifer while replenishing, or regulating, its groundwater. It ensures
harmonic conservation of the equilibrium of the ecosystem as a whole by placing its own
components in just the right position in relation to gravity and to environmental conditions. In
this way it enables some of the most important habitat systems in the world, the oasis, to
flourish in situations of extreme environmental harshness (Figure 8).

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Figure 8. Catchment tunnel’s and oasis ecosystem. Water produced in the

catchment tunnel (A), which is visible thanks to the excavation shafts on the surface
(B), runs beneath the adobe habitat (C) and gathers further along in decantation
tanks (D), useful for drinking water, ablutions and for cooling the dwellings. Once
conveyed in open-air channels by means of the kesria (F), which serve to measure
and distribute the water flow, water irrigates the palm groove (E) subdivided into
tilled parcels by low mud walls (G) (Laureano, 2005).

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