32,000 kilometers of Qanats renovated across Iran

Tehran - The Acting Director of the Agricultural Water Affairs Office at the Ministry of Agriculture, announced that approximately 32,000 kilometers of qanats have been renovated across Iran as part of a nationwide initiative to restore the country’s historic water infrastructure.

In an interview with the Iranian Agriculture News Agency (IANA), Emad Hedayati explained that the rehabilitation efforts included debris removal, installation of protective covers, and various technical interventions tailored to the specific condition of each qanat.

Emphasizing the dynamic and vulnerable nature of these ancient underground channels, he noted that qanats are continually threatened by natural hazards such as floods and droughts.

“There is no final point in qanat rehabilitation,” he said. “A considerable portion of the country's qanats requires ongoing maintenance and reconstruction each year.”

Hedayati reported that approximately 60 trillion rials (around 600 billion tomans) have been allocated from the national budget to support qanat rehabilitation. 

Furthermore, Article J of Note 7 in the annual budget law has earmarked additional funding from repayments to the Foreign Exchange Reserve Fund for this purpose.