Work on Taj Amir Dam in Nurabad City, Delfan County, Lorestan Province, has resumed after a 2-year hiatus, managing director of the provincial Regional Water Company said.
“Construction of the dam that had registered 55% physical progress is expected to be complete by 2023,” IRNA quoted Dariush Hasan-nejad as saying.
With a capacity to hold 8.5 million cubic meters of water, Taj Amir will help irrigate farmlands in the region, he said, adding that farmers who want water rights from the dam “should be equipped with modern irrigation systems”. He did not elaborate. The dam will also provide drinking water to the city of Nurabad with 100,000 residents.
Taj Amir Dam is one of the major projects in Delfan County. In addition to meeting the water needs of the region, it will create jobs for the people in the deprived area.
Delfan County, with a population of 150,000, is located in the northwest of Lorestan.
There are two permanent rivers and several springs in Delfan. Due to the mountains in the region annual rainfall is over 887 millimeters, 10% above the provincial average.
However, despite the good water conditions, 650 million cubic meters of runoff is logged annually to the detriment of local farmers.
Due to the high salinity of surface water, which is one of the main hurdles to sustainable agriculture growth, farmers use groundwater to grow their crops. Agronomists and conservationists have warned that the pattern of withdrawal of large amounts of groundwater in Delfan may lead to land subsidence. Preventing further depletion of groundwater resources is another goal of Taj Amir Dam.
Lorestan is among the regions with abundant rainfall; however, huge volumes of water is discharged due to lack of dams to harness the water flow – a claim disputed by water experts who insist that despite the construction of hundreds of dams in the past half century in different parts of the country the water shortages have not been addressed.
In recent years, torrential rainfalls and flash floods have resulted in massive losses in the province attributed ostensibly to delays in dam construction due to what officials say is funding constraints.
Fifteen dams are being built in the western region to help facilitate water supply to homes, farming and industries, flood control and generating electricity.
