Six dams of Lorestan Province are currently holding 40.9 million cubic meters of water, which is 20% of the total volume of reservoirs, managing director of Lorestan Regional Water Company said.
“The current volume of water in the dam reservoirs shows a 12% decline compared with the same time of last year,” Dariush Hassan-Nejad was also quoted as saying by the Energy Today website.
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 the water l stored in them, he added.
The official noted that considering the decline in rainfall and the low level of water in dams, it is necessary for all farmers to reduce their consumption so as not to face a water shortage.
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 has been completed and its reservoir is ready to be filled with water.
The dam is expected to be launched before the end of the current Iranian year (March 2023).
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 farmland 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 over 20% progress, Taj Amir Dam in Delfan County making over 50% progress, Absardeh and Shahid Boroujerdi dams in Boroujerd County with over 40% and 10% progress respectively.
The construction of Ziba Mohammad and Makhmalkouh dams in Khorramabad has been started recently.
Lorestan is among the regions with abundant rainfall 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.
