While the country is facing severe drought, flood management can prevent further aggravation of the crisis and also help conserve national water resources, said Esmaeil Najjar, head of the Crisis Management Organization, at the opening ceremony of the Second National Conference on Flood Management and Engineering.
“Occupancy and possession of urban and suburban rivers and water resources should be strictly prevented. Natural resources belong to all the people and with their proper conservation and management, hazardous floods can be prevented,” he stressed.
In urban development projects and construction of structures such as bridges and roads, the risks of flood should be considered. Many bridges and roads “don’t have flood tolerance, and unfortunately in the process of construction logical principles are not applied or respected, thus causing waste of national wealth, when structures collapse due to flood waters.”
Vast Knowledge
He emphasized on the need to forecast natural calamities like floods. Dredging canals, increasing capacity of bridges and their regular maintenance are equally important, he said.
“Today, with vast knowledge at our disposal, floods cannot be seen as a disaster anymore, if rain water is harvested wisely.”
He pointed to the drought in Hamoun, Urumia and Zayandehrud basins. The phenomenon is not just drought of a specific lake or river, but it can adversely transform the life of neighboring areas.
Issues such as hazardous air particles in the west and northwest provinces are consequences of lack of precipitation in the country, he added.
