Chapter 1

Question 1

What are quants?

Answer 1

Elaborate underground water delivery systems, made to tap into reliable sources of groundwater.

• a mother well is connected to long, underground delivery tunnels that stretch to nearby communities.
• The mother well was generally dug near the foothills or a mountain range for a plentiful source of groundwater
• Groundwater moved from the mother well along the system by gravity.

Question 2

What are aqueducts?

Answer 2

An elevated water delivery system made out of stone

Question 3

What are stepwells?

Answer 3

An ancient method of tapping into groundwater to use for cooking, drinking, cleaning, and public baths

• stairs going down, inverted pyramid. Unique to India
• The bottom of the well is cooler than the hot land surface, and was often used as community gathering place during intense heat.

Question 4

What is a levee?

Answer 4

a man-made structure, usually an earthen embankment, designed to contain, control, or divert the flow of water so as to provide protection from temporary flooding.

Question 5

What is a slipway?

Answer 5

A boat launch

• in the early days, a giant mud slide

Question 6

What is a flash lock?

Answer 6

A type of lock for river or canal transport

• The early designs of flash locks had a single gate that upon opening would release a sudden surge of water. Boats moving downstream would wait above the lock until the gate was opened and a ‘flash’ of water carried the boats with it.

Question 7

What is a pound lock?

Answer 7

• a chamber with gates at both ends that allows boats to move between levels easily, without affecting the general levels of the river, and without great delays.
• when a boat wants to pass from one level to another, only the relatively small volume of the chamber needs to be filled, rather than a whole reach of the waterway.