Moon Qanat in Ardestan is one of the best examples built in the heart of the desert on the Persian plateau.

In the quaternary period, ancient Iran was full of lakes and mountain glaciers. At the same time, the deserts were gradually expanding.

PAZH | Over thousands of years, the natives of the Iranian plateau have developed civil communities alongside rivers and lakes. They suddenly faced the dilemma of death or migration with the expansion of deserts and lack of water resources. In fact, the surface water system became the groundwater system.

It was here that a unique idea changed human history. The ancient engineers decided to transfer water from the basement to as be not evaporated by heat from the Sun.

What is an qanat?

A qanat or kariz or foggaras is a system for transporting water from an aquifer or water well to the surface, through an underground aqueduct.

Constructed in Iran, Iraq and numerous other societies, this is an ancient system of water supply that allows water to be transported over long distances in hot dry climates without loss of much of the water to evaporation.

The system has the advantage of being resistant to natural disasters such as earthquakes and floods, and to deliberate destruction in war.

Furthermore, it is almost insensitive to the levels of precipitation, delivering a flow with only gradual variations from wet to dry years.

Karez is constructed as a series of well-like vertical shafts, connected by a gently sloping tunnel. This taps into underground water and delivers it to the surface by gravity, without the need for pumping.

The vertical shafts along the underground channel are purely for maintenance purposes, and water is typically used only once it emerges from the daylight point.

So, this is how they built amazing structures that became known as aqueducts. In the following centuries, Qanat or kariz saved many communities in the Middle East and North Africa.

Qasbah Qanats of Gonabad is one of the oldest Qanats and is known as the deepest Qanat in the world. But Moon Qanat (Qanat of Mun) is more amazing than Qasba Qanat.

Moon Qanat is the only two-story aqueduct in the world located in Isfahan. The interesting thing is that the second floor of the aqueduct is on the first floor. On each floor of Moon Qanat flows water of a different quality that does not penetrate another floor.

Mysteries strange of Moon Qanat show that ancient Qanats are an ideal way to save humanity from the increasing problems of drought.