Tunnel Vision

Dutch film-maker Joshka Wessels spent two years making Tunnel Vision. Wessels has recorded the revival in Syria of a system of underground irrigation that started to fall into disuse at the time of the Roman occupation. The 'qanats' are a membrane of tunnels starting again to supply water to farmers in this arid country. In the Gulf it's called the 'fallaj'. It is believed the Persians invented the system almost three thousand years ago. A case of back to the future?

Tunnels of Life

Qanats are subterranean tunnels that tap the groundwater and lead the water to human settlement and agricultural lands through the use of gravity. The system consists of a tunnel that is intersected on regular intervals with hand dug airshafts that provide oxygen for the diggers and cleaners who maintain the channels.

The advantage of qanats is that they provide continuous water flow when operated. Though seasonal fluctuations may occur, the system is reliable for long periods. It is truly a sustainable technique of extracting groundwater without exhausting the water storage in the ground. But qanats are not only ingenious technical systems, proper usage and maintenance requires a certain social organization.

Qanats played a tremendously important role in the spread of irrigated agriculture and the establishment of sophisticated settlements in dry areas. The city of Teheran in Iran was still being fed by twelve qanats until 1930 and the ancient city of Palmyra in Syria would probably not have gained as much fame and fortune if did not have its water supplied in this way.

While 90 qanats still exist in Syria, only one third are in constant use - only about five percent of the original number. Although greater mobility of people has eroded the social structure necessary to maintain this water distribution system, it is hailed by many farmers as a good way to improve agricultural production. The increasing demand for water in such an arid region poses a huge problem - reviving the qanats could be one part of the solution.

The Little Waterfall Challenge

On the edge of the desert in Northern Syria is a village called Shallalah Saghirah, meaning ‘Little Waterfall’ in Arabic. Life there is made possible by the discovery of an abandoned Byzantine water tunnel a century ago.

However, decades of migration and family conflicts caused the tunnels' maintenance to be ignored. Silt chokes the passages and two airshafts are blocked with stones and sand. Surviving in the desert is difficult and as the prospect of an easier life in the towns attracts young men away, natural resources become neglected. But if the tunnel becomes totally unusable, life for the villagers will be much more difficult. Water would have to be brought in from outside the area – a very costly enterprise.

Mohammed Musa, whose great grandfather originally discovered the tunnel, recognised the importance of the village qanat. He worked hard to convince the village elders of its need for repair and his perseverance paid off. People and materials were gathered together to tackle the considerable job of unblocking the tunnel.

Mohammed and his fellow workers had only three months to clear the 600 metre-long tunnel and clean out two blocked 12 metre deep airshafts. More than 70 cubic meters of sand and stones would have to be shifted before the arrival of the rains when water levels become dangerously high. If the task remains unfinished, the village water supply would be shut off. Will they manage to safeguard their only water source?