In arid and semi-arid regions, besides the general lack of water, the issue of water quality is also one of the most important issues. While the use of surface water storages such as reservoirs, etc. has been common as a general strategy in the past, the lack of permanent water flows in these areas makes it unavoidable that the supply of this vital substance be dependent on aquifers.
The importance of aquifers is not limited to their size, extent, capacity, or depth, but their history of the evolution and genesis and the effect that this matter can have on the quality of water stored in them is also of special importance.
Aquifers in arid areas often have limitations caused by salinity and salts due to climatic conditions and sequestration and formation environments.
Nevertheless, there are deposits and sediment accumulations in high piedmonts of arid areas which were created by glacial processes during the fourth Ana Glacial period, and so aquifers or other water storages can be witnessed that provides us with favorable conditions in both terms of breadth and quality.
The presence of glacial reservoirs in these areas is an opportunity for us to increase our ability to utilize our water resources therein and to increase and optimize these resources through recognition and management with the aim of optimization and restoration of reservoirs and directing unpredicted floods and their storage in aquifers.
This article, based on a field design and with emphasis on glacial geomorphic processes in Shirkouh of Yazd, while mentioning the importance of glacial sediments in the quality and storage of water in arid areas, introduces two exceptional aquifers of Mehriz and Sanich in ShirKouh.