The Alhambra's water system is based on the Sultan's Canal, which carries water from the River Darro to the upper part of the Generalife, which it supplies, and then enters the Alhambra over an aqueduct.
Among the farming and livestock estates around the Alhambra, the Generalife was the closest, with a palace and large orchards inside it. The canal that irrigated them runs parallel to the orchards.
The irrigation needs of other orchards nearby led to the construction of a branch: an underground gallery at right angles, a deep well, a water wheel and a large reservoir. The aim was to carry the water to the southernmost areas, which required raising it to the highest part of the estate.
This group of structures is known as Los Albercones. The underground gallery ends in a well beneath a tower, called the Ladies' Tower, built to protect it and to house the water wheel that raised water from the Royal Canal. Brick walkways surround the reservoir, along with a staircase leading to a terrace that probably had a lookout or pavilion above the reservoir.
With the modern recovery of the Alhambra and its heritage, a new reservoir was built in 1926 next to the Nasrid one to increase water pressure throughout the system, and in the 1960s, with the growth of tourism, a third one became necessary.
