The town of Shahrood (north-eastern Iran) and its water supply through the qanats

Shahrood is a city located on the northern border of Kavir desert (altitude 1345 m a.s.l.), along one of the main Silk Road paths, in the North-West of Iran, within the Province of Semnan (Fig. 1). Although, nowadays, water is supplied by a modern system of drilled wells and aqueducts, in the recent past, it was ensured by a complex qanat system; a part of it is still working and supplies more than one third of Shahrood water demand (about 210?000 inhabitants).