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Proceedings of the Third Symposium on Xinjang Uyghor,

Chiba University, Chiba Japan

11 November 2003

Daudi Aflaj: the Qanats of Oman

Abdullah Al-Ghafri1, Takashi Inoue2, Tetuaki Nagasawa3

1 Graduate School of Agriculture, Hokkaido University E-mail: [email protected] 2 Graduate School of Agriculture, Hokkaido University E-mail: [email protected] 3 Graduate School of Agriculture, Hokkaido University E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract Oman has arid climate of average rainfall less than 200 mm per year. Agricultural production in Oman is almost fully dependent on in which more than one third of irrigation water is supplied by aflaj. There are three types of aflaj in Oman: ghaili, daudi and aini. Among these three systems, only the daudi aflaj is very similar to irrigation systems of . Qanat irrigation systems have been utilized in many places around the world for domestic and agricultural production. This paper describes the Omani aflaj with emphasis on the daudi (qanat type). Some problems facing aflaj will also be discussed.

1. Introduction Agriculture of Oman is almost fully dependent on irrigation for agricultural production, because most crop producing areas receive only between 100 to 200 mm of rainfall annually (Norman, et al, 1998 a, b). Oman producing water about 680 x 106 m3 year-1 in which 410 (اﻓﻼج),has 4,112 falaj in which 3,017 are live aflaj x 106 m3 year-1 are used. These aflaj are irrigating some 26,500 hectares (Al-Hatmi and Al-Amri, 2000). singular of aflaj) as, a system, which supply water for a community of) (ﻓﻠﺞ) We can define the Falaj farmers for domestic and/or agricultural use. The term falaj is derived from an ancient Semitic root, which has the meaning “to divide”, hence the water shares in aflaj is divided between the owners. In many -Arabic dictionaries e.g. Al-Waseet 1990, and Lisan Al Arab 1997, the term “falaj” and its derivatives have meaning related to water, land improvement or dividing something. The local nomenclature of the falaj implies the system as a whole (Wushiki, 1997). The name falaj is not designated and (ﻓﻠﺞ ﻋﻴﻨﻲ only for “qanat” irrigation system in Oman; this name is also used for spring type (Aini falaj (ﻓﻠﺞ ,”The qanat irrigation system in Oman is called “Daudi falaj.(ﻓﻠﺞ ﻏﻴﻠﻲ spate irrigation type (Ghaili falaj داؤودي.) Reviewing many references about qanats and aflaj, it is believed that all of these systems are located in the Northern part of Oman. However, Lightfoot (2000) reported that qanats spread from northern Oman to the Southern part (Dhofar) as early as first century A.D. A farming community owns all falaj water. Each farmer has his own share of water depending on the size of his owned farming land(s) and his contribution in constructing the falaj. Aflaj vary in size; the smaller ones owned by a single family to the larger ones having hundreds of owners. Many villages and towns in Northern Oman have more than one falaj system.

1.1 Falaj water utilization The aflaj systems are arranged in such a way that domestic use is primary and agricultural use is secondary. From the total demand for falaj water of 460-million m3 year-1, 99.8 % goes to Agricultural use (MRMEWR, 2001). In most aflaj, water is first allocated for drinking, then water will pass through mosques, forts, men's public baths, women's public baths, and then to the areas for washing dishes and clothes respectively. After domestic use, falaj is utilized first to irrigate the permanent cultivated lands, This arrangement helps .(ﻋﻮاﺑﻲ) mostly date palms, and then the seasonal cultivated lands, called Awabi farmers to control drought. If falaj has more flow rate, then more lands will be cultivated with seasonal crops, such as wheat, tomato and onion in down stream of the system. However, if drought occurs farmers cut the area of seasonal crops (Wilkinson J.C., 1977, Birks, 1977, Dutton, 1995, Norman et. al., 1999, 1998 a, b). If available water in falaj exceeds farmer’s need, water is drained out of the system (Fig. 1.1). Type of domestic use differs among aflaj depending on the level of modernization that reaches the village. As an example, in some villages where people get public water and have modern houses, falaj water is used only for agriculture.

29 Besides the agricultural and domestic use, aflaj systems Water Source used for industrial and other purposes. As an example, falaj al-Mutaridh, died falaj near Sohar, northeast of Oman had four water mills constructed along its channel. Drinking This falaj channel system used as a route way. Numbers of cisterns were constructed in the upper-stream of this falaj to store water for travelers (Costa & T. J. Wilkinson, 1987, T.J. Wilkinson, 1977). Mosques and forts

1.2 Falaj administration Typical large Omani falaj administration consists of a Men bath one for (ﻋﺮﻳﻒ),two assistants, arifs (وآﻴﻞ),director, wakil underground-section services and the other for above Domestic or amin (ﻗﺎﺑﺾ),ground-section services, banker, qabidh Sutton, Women bath) (ﺑﻴﺎدﻳﺮ).and labor, bayadir (اﻣﻴﻦ اﻟﺪﻓﺘﺮ),aldaftar 1984, Wilkinson J.C, 1977), see Fig. 1.2. Depending on the size of the falaj system, falaj can have all of the above administration or some but at the very least should have a wakil. The owners of the falaj (land Washing and water owners) chose the wakil from the village citizens. In every falaj, there are some water shares not owned by individuals but allocated for the community. The value of Date palms and trees these shares reserved for falaj service, mosques and emergencies. In Omani aflaj, particularly the larger ones, farmers can be classified in 4 types: Agricultural i) owners of land and water; Seasonal crops ii) owners of land and renting water; iii) owners of water and renting land; iv) renting land and water. The existence of each type depends on many factors such Drain as the sizes of the falaj community and the amount of water share that is owned by the government (bait al-mal Fig. 1.1 Water utilization of aflaj of Oman. ,or located for the community benefits, (waqf (ﺑﻴﺖ اﻟﻤﺎل .Waqf can be also in form of land or crops reserved for the community .(وﻗﻒ The Wakil is in charge of the overall administration of the falaj. He is the executing director of the falaj. For example, he is in charge of water distribution, water rent, expenditure of falaj budget, solving water conflicts between farmers, Wali emergencies and other decision- Qadhi making activities. The arifs are foremen of the falaj. They follow Sheikh wakil’s directions and lead the labor, can be in charge (ﻋﺮﻳﻒ) bayadir. Arif Audit Committee of timing irrigation in the filed. The Falaj Owners qabidh’s job is controlling the falaj income, which comes from waqf (special water shares, land, and/or crops located for the falaj). He is also Wakil Al-Falaj in charge of updating the falaj transaction book, giving an annual report to the falaj owners, and Section Arif Dallal Amin Al-Daftar Canal Section Arif following the wakil’s directions. Some portion of the aflaj water is rented periodically in one or both of Bayadir Clerk Bayadir two ways, in short intervals called like 7-14 days (ﻣﻘﻌﻮدة) Fig. 1.2 Large falaj administration Maqouda

30 .controls these events (دﻻّل),Auctioneer, Dallal .(ﻣﺰﻳﻮدة) and/or every one-year called Mazyodah The Wakil should be someone with a respected personality, honest, can read and write and can perform simple calculations. He should also have an outgoing personality that allowed him to communicate is assigning the wakil to his job after a (ﺷﻴﺦ) with all people of the village. The head of the village, sheikh recommendation from the falaj-owners. In case of conflicts, either the Wakil or the owners can complain to the sheikh. If the sheikh could not solve ho is the (واﻟﻲthe problem, they or the sheikh him self, will raise the matter to the governor, wali (w government representative and in a position, in final way, to transfer the matter to the court to be judged by using Islamic law. Sometimes the wakil or the owners call for an audit committee to (ﻗﺎﺿﻲ) the qadhi check the income and outcome of the falaj cash flow. This committee consists usually of 3 to 4 trustees from the village (Al-Ghafri, 2002).

1.3 Falaj water distribution Midnight In falaj irrigation system, water is distributed by time basis. Only in few cases volume basis is used. Several ways are adapted for distributing 36 Athars water among farmers. The most common method Nighttime badda of distributing water in aflaj of Oman is by to (دوران dividing the irrigation rotation (dawran 48 Athars 7-14 days; each full day is divided to 48 athars Sunset Sunrise see Fig.1.3). Each athar is then divided to 24 Athars 0 ,أﺛﺮ) smaller divisions. Traditionally, farmers have used sundials in the Daytime badda daytime, and stars at nigh for justifying water shares on the field. Due to the change of the day 12 Athars and night lengths around the year, the practical length of athar also varied. To overcome this Midday variation, farmers have adapted many ways to insure justice distribution of water rights among Fig. 1.3 Traditional full day water-share divisions them. Recently, farmers increasingly have been using modern watches for timing irrigation. Therefore, athar is theoretically equal to 30 minutes (Al-Ghafri et al, 2003).

2. Daudi Aflaj Aflaj in Oman can be classified into three types depending on its source of water: aini, ghaili and daudi. However the methods of administration and management are very similar. 2.1 Structure Daudi aflaj represent 23% of the total aflaj in Oman (MRMWR, 2001). The source of water is a mother- well. Al-Hatmi and Al-Amri (2000) explained that the tunnel has 0.5-1.0 m width, 0.5-2.0 m height and up to 12 km in length. For example falaj Daris in Nizwa is 2.75 km in length and falaj al-Malki in Izki is 9 km in length (Al-Balushi, 1995). In these aflaj water is driven from deep water table by long underground tunnel followed by a canal system (Fig. 2.1.1). The slope of the tunnel is carefully chosen so that the water will flow in calm speed. The gradient must be less than that of the gradient of the ground water table, or the ground surface. This is to reduce water erosion and damage to the tunnel, (Birks, 1984). This type of aflaj is most difficult to construct which require lot of money, time and workforce. In Iran, where similar systems constructed in the end of the last century, Bonine (1996), reported that it cost about 80,000 US$ to dig a small qanat system with length of 2 km and mother well depth of 16 m. Compared with other types of aflaj, daudi aflaj have the most stable flow rate around the year. The tunnel or canal of the falaj can be as long as 12 of kilometers in Oman and to tens of kilometers in Iran. Because the are so long, local people opened access shafts for air circulation and services along the tunnels. These shafts are spaced about 20 meters. In some daudi aflaj, the shafts are located 3 meters away from the main tunnel and connected to it by sub tunnels. This is to insure more security to the falaj. Also, another sub tunnels are dogged in parallel to the main ones, for emergency. If main tunnel get damaged, water will be diverted to sub tunnel until it gets repaired. Large aflaj can have more than one mother-well. Each ﺳﺎﻋﺪ) ,mother-well is connected to the main stream of flow by tunnel, called falaj tributary, sa’uid al falaj .For example, Falaj Daris at Nizwa has two tributaries and Falaj Al Awab i has three tributaries .(اﻟﻔﻠﺞ

31 Water Utilization Water Conveyance Water Production

Mountain Mother

Service Shafts

Village Area

Land surface Open Section Tunnel Water Table

Water

Impermeable formation

Fig. 2.1.1 Cross section of daudi falaj (qanat) in the piedmont zone

These days the government of Oman, represented by MRMEWR (the Ministry of Regional Municipalities, Environment and Water resources), does the emergency and maintenance service for aflaj, such as lining the tunnel with concrete Fig. 2.1.2). 2.2 Origin and history Unfortunately, farmers and owners of Omani aflaj do not know the date when these aflaj constructed in Oman. The mythology, which is very spread among local people, states that the Daudi aflaj created by King (ﺳﻠﻴﻤﺎن Suliaman bin Daud King Solomon of) ﺑﻦ داؤود) the Old Testament) when he rest in Oman from a trip to Yemen. He stayed in Oman 10 days, so he ordered Jinn (Arabian demon) to dig 1000 qanats every day. This explains why the qanat-type Tunnel under maintenance Shaft aflaj called “Daudi” Aflaj. Daudi Aflaj technology was Fig. 2.1.2 Tunnel opened for maintenance. (Falaj Al-Dariz, , 1999) adapted to Oman for 1,500 to 2,000 of years (Sutton, 1984). Wilkinson (1977) argued that the aflaj of Oman were all constructed during the Persian occupation to Oman in the Achaemanide (550-331 B.C.) and Sasanide (till the mid of the seven century A.D. before the advent of Islam) eras, however, Al-Abri (undated), mentioned that many aflaj had constructed in the Yaruba era (A.D. 1624-1740). He gave an example of four aflaj that had been created during the ruling of Imam Sultan bin Saif (dead in 1711 A.D.), in the mid of seventeenth century; Falaj al-Bazeel in Dhank, Falaj Suq al-Imam in al-Kamil and al-Wafi, Falaj al-Kamil in Rustaq and Falaj Burzman in south of Sharqiyah region. The exact origin and date of the qanat innovation is not proved yet. There are some theories consider as the Origin of qanat (Beekman, 1999). Other theory suggests that qanat first appeared 2,500 years ago in the mountains of Kurdistan (English, 1997).

32 Qanat system started about 700 B.C. in Iran (Okazaki, 1989, Lambton, 1989, Lightfoot, 2000) or more than 3,000 years ago (Szollosi-Nagy, 1998). Honari (1989) goes beyond that figure; he estimated that qanat started before 5,000 to 7,000 years ago. Lightfoot (2000), explained that even modern methods of dating, such as by radio-carbon (14C) may lead to wrong results. Comparable systems to Daudi Aflaj existed or still exist in many places around the world like Iran, China, Iraq, Countries of the Arabian Gulf, Yemen, , Syria, Cyprus, , , and the Americas (Cressey, 1958); , Sahara, Japan, China, and (Sekai no Kangai, 1995 and Kobori, 1996). Cressey Table 2.2 Some names of qanats in different countries quoted some two dozens of variants of names and spellings of these systems: qanat, Country Name quanat, canant, connought, kanat, khanate, khad, kanayet, or ghannat; karez, kariz, Afghanistan Kariz kahriz, kahrez, karaz, or kakoriz (southwest , Foggara Asia); foggara, mayon, iffeli, ngoula, khettara, khottara, or rhettara (North China ( Uyghur) Kanjing, Karez Africa); falaj, or felledj (Arabia). In the Iran Qanat book, Sekai no Kangai (1995), it is mentioned that it is called Qanat in Iran and Italy (Sicilian) Ingruttato (s.), Ingruttati (pl.) Iraq, Karez in Afghanistan, Fogara in Japan Mambo, Mappo Sahara, Rettara in Morocco, Kanjing in China, and Mambo in Japan. Perhaps, must Korea Ma-nan-po of these different name are just variants of Latin America Galerias, Puquio the original names used for qanat systems; Morocco Khattara, Rhettara Qanat, Aflaj, Karez, Khattara and Foggara. Karez is a Persian alternative of the Semitic Oman Falaj (s.), Aflaj (pl) words, qanat, aflaj, foggarah and khattarah. Spain and Canary Islands Galerias, Mayrit More than 23 Mambo systems existed in Japan by the 1930s. The underground Syria Qanat Romani structure of Mambo systems is similar to Yemen Felledj, Ghail, Miyan qanat system; however, it was used to irrigate paddy field (Kayane, 1973). From field study done by the author in Mie-Ken, Japan, The Japanese qanat found to be very similar in physical structure to the Omani daudi aflaj. Table 2.2 shows some of names and locations of qanats in the world and Fig. 2.2.2 showes the spread and distribution of qanats in the world.

3. Problems facing Aflaj There are more than 25% of Omani aflaj are classified as dead. These systems dried due to several factors, not only by hydro-physical reasons but also by socio-economical problems. Aflaj, which sustained for hundreds of years providing food and income to farmers, faced lot of serious problems in the last four decades in Oman. Due to the rapid modernization, farmers get attracted to another source of higher income in oil companies and governmental organizations. Aflaj become less and less important as a source of money. Fig. 2 .2 Spread and distribution of qanats in the world Regular maintenance becomes less practiced. The migration of farmers to work out of the community led less manpower to take care of the falaj regular maintenance. Due

33 to the scarcity of labor, farmers hired non-experienced expatriates labor to work in aflaj systems. These expatriate do not have the knowledge neither the sense of the importance of aflaj to maintain the regular service of the system. Government of Oman, particularly MAFW (the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries Wealth) and MRMEWR, did intensive efforts to maintain the aflaj systems. As an example, a special department in MRMEWR is allocated to maintain aflaj. This department did a lot of surveys and researches for developing and maintains the aflaj systems. A big budget is allocated for aflaj maintenance. Al-Hatmi and Al-Amri (2000) estimated the cost as 83 to 163 US$ per meter for the underground tunnels and 35 to 99 US$ per meter for the above ground structures (over the period 1991-1999). Due to the developed passive attitude of farmers toward the falaj, technical knowledge about aflaj remained only with older generation, and new generations have no interest to learn it. In many systems farmers even do not know the time of the construction or the location of the water source (Wushiki, 1997). Starting from the 1950’s, farmers whose get better incomes from working out of the aflaj communities depart from the community and establish their own farms. These new farms irrigated by diesel or electric pumps. The large number of new farms affect the water table which feeding the aflaj. Much aflaj flow is reduced and it drought out in some cases. Oman government made lot of efforts and regulations to stop or reduce the effect of this problem on aflaj. For example, by implementing new regulations to control the digging of new wells. Urbanization is one of the threatening problems to aflaj. Farming lands are shrinking in favor of expansion on residential areas. In many aflaj systems, agricultural lands (which has low prices per m2) are converted to housing land. Many farms has been reduced or abounded. The terminology and nomenclature for scheduling irrigation and units for water share is too complicated and unorganized, as well its knowledge is disappearing. This fact beside the ridge fixed irrigation cycle, make the modernization of water management very difficult. Another potential hazard to aflaj is chemical and physical pollutions. The country is moving fast toward heavy industry, tourism and economical activities. The combination of these activities with other social problems can harm the fragile ecosystem of aflaj. Therefore, it is time to conduct various researches for evaluating the quality of soil and Upper falaj water environment in aflaj. For example, in many cases in Oman, the source of one falaj is located Lower falaj just downstream of another. Thus, applying agro-chemicals in the Alluvial deposits upper stream may lead to polluting Water table the lower falaj (Fig. 3). Biological pollution from residential areas is Bedrock also expected. The sewage water from houses is stored in underground tanks; this water may Fig. 3 Two-daudi aflaj where water may seep seep into the falaj tunnel or canal. from the upstream falaj to the down stream one.

4. Prospects for the future Developing and keeping aflaj sustainable requires integrated efforts and research. One has to consider aflaj as hydrological, social, ecological and economical systems. Development programs should also be sensitive to the nature of aflaj societies, where the tribal thinking is dominating all decision making within the local communities. The development project needs to involve the local people in the process of any modernization of aflaj. There are many project failed due to the lake of understanding or participation by the local people. International co-operations are so important to exchanges lessons and experience. These co-operations can be in different forms, such as conducting joint research projects, exchanging data and information, training, donations of grants, etc. It is recommended that all the existing traditional water-share units should be converted to standard time. As a result, it is necessary to document all water shares of aflaj, before further steps and big changes take places in the management or the social system of aflaj. The income of local people should be improved. Some suggestions are to store the aflaj water to make it available on demand of irrigation. Then, cultivating high value crops such as medical plants and herbs. Also, recreation activities could be introduced, like fish farming, swimming pools or eco-tourism.

34 Qanat or aflaj, are smart human solution to make the living in an extreme dry environments possible, consequently these systems should be preserved for future generations.

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36