干旱区生态环境知识资源中心

The ghanat is one of the major sources of irrigation water in arid countries such as Iran. During fall and winter when there is no agricultural activity a great amount of the outflow of ghanat water is squandered. This volume of water can be saved by controlling the outflow of the ghanats by a scheme that is very economical and technically feasible. The scheme was applied to two types of ghanat: high-now and low-flow rate ghanats, both located in Yazd province where there are numerous ghanats and ghanat diggers. The results of the study showed that the controlling scheme was successful with ghanats where the risk of landslide was insignificant.