Executive operations for building Mashoureh Dam in Lorestan Province have recently accelerated.
The project, launched 10 years ago, has made less than 10% progress and is expected to be completed in five years, Mehr News Agency reported.
The dam’s construction will help address drinking and irrigation problems in the region, control devastating floods and create employment.
Upon completion, the dam will have a capacity of 1 billion cubic meters, which is five times the total capacity of other six dams in the western province and at least six cities in Lorestan will benefit from its water.
With more than 130 permanent and seasonal rivers with a length of about 9,000 km, Lorestan possesses 12% of the country's surface runoff. Close to 2.6 bcm of water are withdrawn from surface and groundwater resources of the province annually.
However, 12 bcm of surface runoff flow out of Lorestan and enter Karkheh and Dez watersheds. Therefore, the completion of projects such as Mashoureh Dam is of high importance for the province to help prevent the outflow of surface runoff from the province.
The six dams in the western province can collectively hold 208.71 mcm of water but the decline in precipitation in the past two years has caused a steep reduction in water level.
Provincial officials have warned that considering the decline in rainfall and the low level of water in dams, it is necessary for all farmers to reduce consumption to avoid water shortage.
Other Dam Projects
Despite the decline in precipitation in recent years, several dams are being built in the province, as their construction operations had started in the past.
The construction of Kamandan Dam in Azna County is almost complete and it is expected to be launched before the end of the current Iranian year (March 2024).
With a water storage capacity of 28 million cubic meters, Kamandan Dam will provide Azna and Aligoudarz counties with drinking water, in addition to supplying water to 5,140 hectares of farmlands on Kamand Plain.
Six other dams are in different stages of construction in Lorestan. Upon completion, they will supply water to several counties for farming, industrial and drinking purposes. They will also help control flooding.
In the past few years, torrential rains and flash floods took a heavy toll on people’s lives and properties in the province, mainly due to delays in dam construction blamed by officials on funding constraints.
The ongoing projects include Ali Mahmoud Dam in Aligoudarz County with 20% progress, Taj Amir Dam in Delfan County with 50% progress, Absardeh and Shahid Boroujerdi dams in Boroujerd County with 40% and 10% progress respectively.
The construction of Ziba Mohammad and Makhmalkouh dams in Khorramabad was also launched recently.
Lorestan is among the regions that experience abundant rainfall, except for the dry years, but huge volumes of water are discharged due to a lack of dams to control the water flow.
Nevertheless, the issue of building dams to collect water has been disputed by water experts who insist that despite building hundreds of dams in the past half century in different parts of the country, water shortages have not been alleviated.
