[zeristor]

There must be hundreds of places around the world who could make use of this.

How many other ones in Spain have been abandoned?

If this was established by the Moors then I would guess other ex-Moor states would have a similar setup.

[asabil]

Yes, throughout Morocco’s south east you will find what’s called khettaras (خطارة). They are underground irrigation network that was used to transport water from the Atlas Mountains to regions about 300km away.They were in used until the late 80s as far as I know.

[tough]

Wow fascinating, do you have any idea why they stopped being used? Cynical me says to earn some kickback money for building new industrial pipes..

[lifeisstillgood]

It seems to me that the acequia are an open and distributed technology, so even when the central authority collapsed, each individual community was able to keep the services running based on that technology, for over a thousand years.

Modern irrigation is incredible, modern cities are amazing, modern software connects most humans on the planet. But ... we can learn.

[asabil]

That was the exact same with the khettaras, they were built and Maintained by the communities.

Talking about notion of a central authority that provides governance is an anachronism in the context of North Africa. But that’s a separate discussion.

[LargoLasskhyfv]

You mean like this? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Man-Made_River

[zeristor]

No like this, Qanat:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qanat

[LargoLasskhyfv]

I answered to the "cynincal me" part of tough (industrial, kickback, etc) ;-)

[asabil]

Droughts, there is simply not as much water as there used to be :(

[krisoft]

> If this was established by the Moors then I would guess other ex-Moor states would have a similar setup.

Sure thing! In Madeira they have many ancient aquaducts originally estabilished by the Moors:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levada

Ancient water management is a fascinating topic.

The qanats in the middle-east, and north africa are particularly interesting. They are underground water conduits and sources dug by human muscles alone.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qanat

[rodelrod]

Madeira was initially settled by the Portuguese in the 15th century, 200 years after the end of the Portuguese Reconquista, so it's quite a stretch to claim that the "levadas" were "established by the Moors", even if they initially brought the technology to Iberia.

[jdasdf]

The moors were never in madeira.

The island chain was empty by the time the portuguese arrived.

[spookie]

I really need to comment, even if others said the same thing.

There were no moors in Madeira.

[krisoft]

hmm. You and others are totally right. I miss-read my own source. Sorry about that!

[PaulDavisThe1st]

The same system exists across parts of the north American southwest colonized/taken over by the Spanish. New Mexico still has many acqueias, though like Span, less and less each year as the skills and desire to manage them, uhm, dries up.