Dry rivers and water wells.....

The water from the Andean mountains flows underground to the Pacific. Underneath the desert are so called aquifers; layers of permeable rock that contain water. The town of Nazca lies between two rivers...... very dry rivers.... Only once in 7 years there is water in the rivers.

One river ......

Another bridge over another river.....

 As a tourist you don't notice so much that the water is rationed in Nazca. People outside the center only have water for one hour a day (in the evening). And in some places (like this new settlement) there is probably no water t all.

From the sky you see signs of extensive flooding in the Nazca desert.

This looks amazingly the same as the muddy river beds in Iceland (Skaftafel - below) that go straight from the glaciers to the sea. Only in Iceland there is a lot of water flowing, here in Nazca it is completely dry. The color of the sediment is also very light like  in Nazca.



Already in Pre-Colombian times, around 550 AD, people new there was water underground in aquifers. To get access to the water the people built underground aqueducts (puquios) to reach the aquifers. To get to the water in the aqueducts they constructed spiral water wells. The water was used for irrigation of the fields and for consumption.

This aerial of the Cantalloc wells is a srceen print from Google Maps (thanks!).

This spiraling structure enables you to go down to the water.

There is the aqueduct with water down there

Amazing construction.

Here the aqueduct comes to the surface.

Interesting reading about the relation between the Nazca lines and underground water (Aquifers):
The Nasca Lines Project (1996-2000)
Nasca Puquios and Aqueducts