Afghanistan’s water officials opened discharge valves at the Kamal Khan Dam on Helmand River and water is expected to flow into three big reservoirs in the Sistan Plain called Chah-Nimeh in Sistan-Baluchestan Province soon, the provincial governor general said.
“Protracted negotiations with the neighbor have eventually yielded positive results and Iran is about to receive its water share from Helmand River after a long time,” Hossein Modarres Khiabani was also quoted as saying by IRNA.
“Chah-Nimeh reservoirs are three natural and big cavities in the south of Sistan Plain, 50 kilometers from Zabol and 90 km from Kamal Khan Dam in Afghanistan,” he said, adding that surplus water from Hirmand River flows into them through a canal.
These reservoirs have a capacity of 1.8 billion cubic meters, but they are less than half full now.
Sistan-Baluchestan is the second largest province of Iran, bordering Afghanistan and Pakistan. The region has been struggling with severe water shortages for two decades, as rainfall averages a meager 105 mm.
More than 50% of the people of the province live in rural areas. But that is fast changing, as they are abandoning their homes and villages, and moving to other parts of the country in search of work and a better life.
Water from the Helmand River in principle is shared under a 1973 treaty, which assigned Iran 800 million cubic meters of water a year. But with Afghanistan embroiled in foreign military invasions, domestic violence of terror syndicates, political infighting and civil strife for the past decades, the water supply has remained wildly erratic.
Iran and Afghanistan signed an agreement in Zabol in southeastern Sistan-Baluchestan Province last February to reconfirm Iran’s full share of water from Hirmand (aka Helmand) River after half a century, the official added.
Khiabani noted that engineers from the two sides prepared the river’s topography maps, based on which Iran installed its water intake screening systems on the river to measure how much water flows into the country.
Negotiations centered on resolving disputes over the water share set in the 1973 deal.
“According to the treaty, Iran's share is 22 cubic meters per second, but they [Afghans] were in breach over the past several years,” he said, expressing hope that the measuring instruments will put an end to the border water issue.
Kamal Khan Dam diverts large quantities of water into Afghan farmlands (mostly to plant poppies) instead of the River Delta’s wetlands where Helmand ends.
Khiabani noted that prior to the construction of dams on Helmand River, 9 billion cubic meters of water flowed annually into Hamoun Wetlands in Sistan-Baluchestan Province, which has now declined to less than 800 mcm per annum.
“Afghan activities in the Helmand River basin should be compatible with river discharge, respect Iran’s rights and principles of environmental sustainability, which issues have so far been overlooked,” he said.
