81 Percent of Country’s Dam Capacity Filled; Qazvin Dam Overflows
The head of the dam operations group in the country reported that 81 percent of the country’s dam capacity has been filled, stating that the inflow to the country’s dams was 68 billion cubic meters, a figure four times higher than the corresponding period in the previous water year.
Vahid Askari-Nezhad on Saturday, May 11, stated that the amount of water stored in the country’s dam reservoirs was 41 billion cubic meters, adding that the total capacity of the country’s dams is 50 billion cubic meters.
Approximately 60 percent of the total water inflow to the country’s dams has entered Khuzestan Province.
Recent significant rainfall caused flooding in parts of the country, particularly in Golestan and Khuzestan provinces, which resulted in the death of approximately 80 Iranian citizens and caused substantial financial losses.
Meanwhile, Gholamreza Shariati, the governor of Khuzestan Province, announced on Saturday that Iraq has agreed to allow part of Khuzestan’s floods to enter the Tigris River.
He stated that the Iraqi government has also implicitly agreed to allow Khuzestan’s floods to enter the Iraqi section of the Hawizeh Marsh, but rejected Iran’s request for water to enter the Adab River and be directed toward the Arvand River.
Reports also indicate that the Qazvin Taleghan Dam has overflowed and the Karaj Dam is approaching saturation levels due to heavy rainfall and snowmelt.
Davoud Najafian, the CEO of the Regional Water Company of Alborz Province, told the Mehr News Agency on Saturday that the Taleghan Dam overflow is likely to continue for two weeks.
The CEO of the Regional Water Company of East Azerbaijan also stated that there is a possibility of the Aras Dam overflowing in the coming days.
The director of the provincial office of the Lake Urmia Restoration Headquarters in West Azerbaijan reported that the volume of water in the lake has exceeded 5 billion cubic meters and said it will continue to increase in the coming days. He added that approximately 1.5 billion cubic meters of this amount has been released toward the lake since the beginning of Farvardin month.
According to him, the water level of Lake Urmia on May 11 is close to 1272 meters, and its area has become 3180 square kilometers.
Askari-Nezhad, head of the dam operations group at Iran’s Water Resources Management Company, says that of the 178 dams currently in operation, 86 dams have more than 90 percent capacity and 30 percent have water storage below their capacity.
He added that the inflow to the country’s dams only in Farvardin month of this year exceeded the total water inflow to dams in the year 2016-2017, indicating the magnitude of the floods created.
Iran has been facing a drought crisis for years, but recent floods and increased dam reserves apparently will not help solve the crisis.
Sahar Taj-Bakhsh, head of the Meteorological Organization, said on May 15 that “drought in Iran continues,” and it cannot be said that the country has entered a period of abundant rainfall.
Source: Radio Farda
