In Iran, particularly to the south of the Alburz mountains, water is indeed the most precious of commodities. This chapter examines in some detail conditions of water supply and irrigation in one small area of Iran: the rural zone surrounding Mashhad. Here, water is sourced from wells, and from qanāts, and direct from rivers and streams. The qanāt irrigation systems at Bīldār and Kāshif could be held to be generally characteristic of conditions elsewhere in the region, and probably for Iran as a whole. In an effort to minimize costs, the use of electrical power for irrigation pumps is becoming more widely used, since electricity can in certain localities prove cheaper than oil fuel. In the village of Murghānān, water for irrigation is brought direct from the Kāshaf Rūd which lies at a short distance to the south of the village.