qanat

plural qanats · alternative kanat · alternative qanāt

1. An underground conduit, between vertical shafts, that leads water from the interior of a hill to villages in the valley

   Shafts are dug to the required level along the planned route of the qanat, every 300 m or so […].

   1981, Richard Edward Chapman, Geology and Water: An Introduction to Fluid Mechanics for Geologists, page 112

   2 more examples

   Elsewhere over large areas of the plateau and the foothill regions, the qanat irrigation cultures were weakened considerably.

   1988, Keith Stanley McLachlan, The Neglected Garden: The Politics and Ecology of Agriculture in Iran

   Its gardens are watered by rivers that invariably flow underground, like the subterranean qanats developed by the Persians.

   2019, Tim Mackintosh-Smith, Arabs, Yale University Press, page 127

   Synonyms: foggara, karez