Kardavani: Using Prefabricated Concrete Blocks is the Only Permanent Solution to Save Aqqala from Flooding
The return of flooding to Aqqala has prompted experts to comment on the causes of the flood and ways to save Aqqala. According to Parviz Kardavani, an environmental activist, the only permanent solution to save Aqqala from flooding is the use of prefabricated concrete blocks.
Many experts attribute the main cause of flooding in Turkmen Steppe and particularly in Aqqala to poor management, including the failure to timely drain water from Voshmgir Dam and the lack of dredging of this dam as well as the Gorgan River. However, Professor Parviz Kardavani, an environmental activist, has raised a different perspective.
In an interview with IRNA news agency, Kardavani rejects the failure to open the Voshmgir Dam’s water gates at the right time as the cause of flooding. Kardavani says: “We have not had such rains for years, and this has nothing to do with opening the dam at the right or wrong time.”
Kardavani, who is also known as the father of desert science in Iran, explained his remarks: “The natural conditions of Golestan are such that the bed of Gorgan River is slightly lower than the plain level, therefore if the amount of water increases, it will overflow to the plain and marsh.”
However, another factor involved in the flooding was the lack of dredging of Voshmgir Dam. Some experts even consider the main cause of flooding not the Gorgan River, but the Voshmgir Dam. The capacity of this dam has decreased due to sediments, and local authorities have repeatedly reminded about dredging sediments from this dam in the past two years.
Regarding the dredging of Voshmgir Dam, Kardavani also believes that this dredging should not be carried out: “I emphasize that no action should be taken to dredge Voshmgir Dam at present; instead, walls should be built around Gorgan River.”
Kardavani has suggested widening the Gorgan River and placing concrete blocks around it.
Gorgan River is more than 200 kilometers long, and Kardavani has not given a clear and explicit answer about whether prefabricated blocks should be laid along the entire course of this river.
Kardavani emphasized: “All cement factories must be forced immediately to produce concrete blocks and transfer them to Aqqala, and then by filling the space between the blocks, prevent flooding forever.”
In Kardavani’s view, “the only permanent solution to save Aqqala from flooding is the use of prefabricated concrete blocks.”
This environmental activist further noted: “Voshmgir Dam is now full of mud and silt, if it is opened, the damage will increase and the mud and silt of the dam must be washed away, but not now but in the winter of next year when there is no need to use it.”
Kardavani believes that this year’s rainfall has caused mud and silt to accumulate in the reservoirs of the country’s dams. He has suggested that all dams in the country should be dredged using special hydraulic cleaning vehicles.
Source: DW
