The city of Yazd is situated on the edge of the Dasht-iKavīr in the Ardistān-Yazd basin, which stretchessome 250 miles from near Kāshān to south of Bāfq. Itlies at a height of 4,000 ft. West of Yazd, the ShīrKūh massif rises to 13,370 ft. It receivesconsiderable moisture including heavy snow but therainfall of Yazd itself is less than 5 in. perannum. Near Yazd groundwater which originates in theShīr Kūh mountains follows a northward slope fromMihrīz towards Ardakān. Before the sinking ofsemi-deep power-operated wells from about 1950onwards, Yazd obtained its water from longqanāts originating in themountains west of Taft and Mihrīz. Theqanāts of the villages to thenorth-west of Yazd tap water in the highestelevations of the basins to the north-east. Some ofthese qanāts flow underneath Yazd,while a few originate in Yazd itself.