Fars - Iran’s southern Fars province is restoring its ancient qanats (aqueduct) as drought and declining groundwater reserves renew interest in one of the country’s oldest sustainable water-management systems.

 

Fars has around 5,500 qanats, of which about 2,480 are currently active, providing some 722 million cubic meters of water annually for more than 41,000 hectares of farmland.

 

Nearly 950 rehabilitation and restoration projects have been carried out across the province in recent years. Officials say proper restoration and dredging can increase the output of some qanats by 10–15 percent and return damaged or low-yield systems to service.

 

However, restoring another 1,050 qanats would require an estimated 38 trillion rials in funding, according to provincial figures.

 

Experts say reviving qanats, alongside protecting aquifers and curbing excessive groundwater extraction, can help strengthen water security and support sustainable agriculture amid persistent drought.

 

Dating back centuries, qanats channel groundwater to farms and settlements without relying on energy-intensive pumping. Their restoration therefore offers not only a way to preserve Iran’s water heritage, but also a traditional tool for easing pressure on increasingly depleted groundwater resources.