Kariz (water supply)

A qanāt (Arabic: قناة‎‎) is a gently sloping underground channel to transport water from an aquifer or water well to surface for irrigation and drinking. This is an old system of water supply from a deep well with a series of vertical access shafts. The qanats still create a reliable supply of water for human settlements and irrigation in hot, arid, and semi-arid climates. The qanat technology was developed in ancient Iran by the Persian people sometime in the early 1st millennium BC, and spread from there slowly westward and eastward.

Common variants of qanat in English include kanat, khanat, kunut, kona, konait, ghanat, ghundat.

Qanāt (قناة) is the Arabic name, and literally means "channel". In Persian, the words for "qanat" are kārīz (or kārēz; كاريز), used in Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asia, and is derived from earlier word kāhrēz (كاهریز). The word qanāt (قنات) is also used in Persian. Other names for qanat include kahan (Persian: کهن‎‎), Kahn (Balochi), kahriz/kəhriz (Azerbaijan); khettara (Morocco); Canal (Spain); falaj (Arabic: فلج‎‎) (United Arab Emirates and Oman), foggara/fughara (North Africa). Alternative terms for qanats in Asia and North Africa are kakuriz, chin-avulz, and mayun.

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