WATER DIVISION AND TRADITIONAL IRRIGATION IN PERSIAN FOLKLORE

Farmers did water division basically when it was aridity and drought. However in dry and desert lands water division has always been done. Aridity or shortage of water which results water division caused a sort of solidarity, cooperation and unity in order to share water justly for agricultural uses. Water division is a traditional method which was institutionalized in all parts of Iran and everybody obey this method. If this method was not established or obeyed, the result of dispute would be nothing but the waste of main part of the crops. Aridity and the need of farms to more and more water some times caused conflicts and disputes among farmers. Such difficulties usually start from the mid-summer. But generally speaking all farmers respects the conventional, traditional and local method of water division and does according to that. Water resources either for agricultural uses or for domestic uses provides from different sources. Some of these channels established through difficult processes. But nowadays tap water resolved domestic needs of water. But agricultural needs of water still supplies through local resources. Although nowadays by adaptation of some policies like making dams we try to store water, but in some parts of Iran especially central region, people still use duct and well water and naturally traditional formulas of water and irrigation is run there. At the following, we take a glance over methods of traditional water division and irrigation in different parts of the country.