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Human
Development
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What
is a Karez
The
Balochistan Province is in the western
half of Pakistan. This province is
rugged, and it's elevation is much
higher than the rest of Pakistan;
the area is referred to as the Balochistan
Plateau. This area is also very dry.
Thus, its inhabitants have, for centuries,
used a unique way of gathering water.
The
method is called karez. In this method,
underground tunnels are constructed
to gather subsoil water, through gravitational
pull, at the foot of hills. This water
is then either taken to the fields
and villages through vertical shafts
which are sunk underground, or it
is drawn out at the foot of the hill
where it has been gathered.
Inhabitants
of Balochistan may not mean this exact
definition when they use the term
Karez. People of an area know the
natural water ways which flow just
below the sandy surfaces of the valleys
of Baluchistan. Some time they appear
on surface by themselves and sometime
those who know them dig them out for
usage. At places where this water
is seeping in as a natural spring
they put some sort of pound around
it. All of this natural phenomena
is also called karez by the inhabitants
of Balochistan.
(Reference:
Britannica.com)
Date/Time Last Modified: 6/17/2002 4:34:35 PM
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