Karez systems

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The Turpan water system locally called Karez water system，it is a qanat system adapted by the Turpan people.The word karez，derived from the same word in Persian means“well”in the local Uyghur language.Turpan’s well system was crucial in Turpan’s development as an important oasis stopover on the ancient Silk Road skirting the barren and hostile Taklamakan Desert.Turpan’s karez water system is made up of a horizontal series of vertically dug wells that are then linked by underground water canals to collect water from the watershed surface runoff from the base of the Tian Shan Mountains and the nearby Flaming Mountains.The system has wells，dams and underground canals built to store the water and control the amount of water flow.Vertical wells are dug at various points to tap into the groundwater flowing down sloping land from the source，the mountain runoff.The water is then channeled through underground canals dug from the bottom of one well to the next wel1 and then to the desired destination.This irrigation system of special connected wells originated during the Han Dynasty.