The Agdal Basin, known in Arabic as Sahrij Swani ("Basin of the Norias"), is the huge stone reservoir Sultan Moulay Ismail built inside his imperial kasbah in Meknes. The nearly rectangular basin measures about 148.75 by 319 metres and stored water drawn up by the adjoining House of the Ten Norias to supply the palaces, mosques, gardens and orchards of the imperial city, and to guarantee water in times of siege or drought. Large enough for small pleasure boats, it was both a practical waterworks and a place of leisure. Today it is a calm public space where locals walk the wide paved edge and watch the ruined granary walls reflected in the water.