Qanat is one of the most valuable national heritages of Iranians. Qanat has been the main factor of life in many regions of the country. Many issues have arisen in Qanta’s maintenance process due to the growing use of groundwater by wells and pumping. Most Qanats dried up in the last few decades.
Iran is facing a drought crisis. By restoring the aqueduct, it is possible to achieve the correct management of water consumption. Khorasan province has a long history of using aqueducts and should be supported quickly in the field of maintenance and dredging of Qanats.
The financial credit for the restoration of Qanats changed from the national budget to the national-provincial budget. As a result, the activities accelerated. But the difficulty and difficulties of the aqueduct restoration operation have caused the work process to be faced many obstacles.
In the meantime, the attention of Basij groups to this case matter can promise a bright future for water management and consumption in the province.
For this reason, Pazh interviewed Sardar Ali Akbar Afrasiabi, deputy coordinator of the Imam Reza Corps of Razavi Khorasan province.
How is Basij’s activity regarding the dredging of aqueducts?
Basij is active in Qanat dredging in Taybad, Khaf, Torbat Jam, Saleh Abad city, and various places. These operations do carry out under the Dehistan Abad program.
We have about 5 Dehestans in the province in which we were active. Of course, Basij provides various services in the field of water. One of them is the dredging of the Qanats. We worked in most of the southern and eastern cities of the province during the last decade because people in these areas generally used Qanats in the distant past.
There are more than 6000 Qanats in Razavi Khorasan province, and we worked in some of them. In the past, we carried out some of these operations with the agricultural jihad and Astan Quds. In other sectors, Basij has also acted independently.
In these cities, some Qanats were dry for more than 50 years. The interesting thing was that people did not believe that the result of these efforts would lead to water flowing again from the Qanats.
Do you carry out the process of dredging or rebuilding the Qanats using the knowledge of native masters or university professors?
We mostly use native masters but also cooperate with university professors. At the same time, agricultural Jihad specialists and even local people who have good experience also participate in this operation.
What are Basij activities regarding transferring water to less privileged areas?
We had extensive activities in the field of water supply as well. In the past were in the scope of Basij water supply operations cities Taibad, Khaf, and Torbat Jam. We are also active in cities such as Jovin, Joghtai, Zaveh, Rashtkhawa, and Bardaskan.
We are working on more than 100 km of pipe laying operation. In addition to piping and completion of water transmission lines, we also undertook the construction of water tanks for sustainable transmission.
These missions were carried out using the power of Basij construction and the facilities we have in the province, and a part of it is ready to be opened, which we will unveil during Basij Week.