Dam Construction was Destructive to the Environment
Hassan Rouhani, the President of Iran, defended the government’s dam-building policy during a visit to flood-stricken areas of Lorestan Province. However, experts warned that floods can only impose heavy costs on the government and should not serve as a pretext for constructing dams in Iran.
Hassan Rouhani, President of Iran, visited flood-affected areas of Lorestan Province on Saturday, April 20, 2019 (31st of Farvardin). At a coordination council meeting of the provincial crisis management headquarters at Khorramabad Airport, he defended the government’s dam-building policy, stating that these dams had an impact in reducing the damage and losses from recent floods in the country. Rouhani emphasized: “A few years ago, everyone was asking why you built so many dams. You ruined the environment and spent a lot of money. Let us not forget the judgments we made in previous years.”
However, the government’s dam-building policy, which was once referred to as “dam-building madness,” has faced criticism from experts. Anoosh Nouri Esfandiari, a member of the strategic council of the Iran Water Management Institute, told ILNA news agency: “We may forget again that adaptation programs to water scarcity are very important, and we may once again pursue some ambitious and grandiose programs that cannot continue and will only impose costs on us.”
The member of the strategic council of the Iran Water Management Institute also explained the role of dams in controlling floods: “We relied too much on dam construction. We should make decisions based on long-term averages, not events of a single year. Many dams could not be filled and remained empty for years. Building a dam just because of the possibility of floods is not a logical or correct approach. We should pursue better solutions that are more compatible with nature. The environmental impacts of dams have been destructive, and we have not found answers for them and have tried to forget about them.”
However, experts have no doubt that proper management of water behind dams could have prevented flooding in some parts of the country. For example, one of the most fundamental reasons cited for the Turkmen Steppe floods was the failure to drain water from behind dams before the onset of rainfall. Water distribution officials in the region were selling this dam water to farmers, which prevented the dams from being drained. However, following torrential rains, the dam gates were opened, resulting in a catastrophe with many cities and villages being flooded. This forced President Rouhani’s government to immediately dismiss the governor of Golestan Province.
Subsidence of Ancient Mounds
Beyond loss of life and property damage, the floods have also destroyed many archaeological artifacts. Many ancient sites in the provinces are now submerged under water.
MohammadReza Mohammadian, Director of Archaeology for Lorestan, told ILNA that 20 ancient mounds in Kuhdasht have been submerged. According to the province’s archaeology director, the most damage to archaeological sites occurred along the Simarre River. He said that currently 20 historical sites in Simarre in Kuhdasht County are submerged, and among these artifacts, 17 sites and structures are nationally registered, while three sites have not yet been nationally registered.
Regarding the destruction and damage to archaeological artifacts in other flood-affected areas of Lorestan, he said: “One site at Pol Doktar, two sites like the village of Fahrah in Aligudarz which contained a mound and historical castle and suffered collapse, five sites like the Dehohsen Mound in Khorramabad, four sites in Dorud, four sites like the Serab Chenar Mound in Aleshtar, and two sites like the Sharaf Abad Mound in Nurabad faced flood-related problems. At Pol Doktar, we witnessed the collapse of the historical Baba Bahram Castle. In Borujerd, the Bazazna and Tanjour mounds were also damaged.”
Source: DW
