| Iran's
Water Basins
Iran can be divided into the following
major river basins:
With an area
of 424,240 km²,
the Caspian Sea is the
largest landlocked water
body in the
world and its surface
lies about 22 meters
below sea level.
 |
Iran’s
Basins Information |
|
Basin
|
Total
area
|
%
of
total area
|
Rainfall
(mm/year)
|
| Central
Plateau |
832,000
|
51
|
165
|
| Persian
Gulf & Sea of Oman |
431,000
|
26
|
366
|
| Caspian
Sea |
178,000
|
11
|
430
|
| Lake
Hamoun |
106,000
|
7
|
142
|
| Lake
Orumie |
57,000
|
3
|
320
|
| Sarakhs |
44,000
|
2
|
90
|
| Total |
1,648,000
|
100
|
252
|
|
Condition of the Watersheds in Iran
 According
to world statistics, Iran, with more
than ten million hectares of cultivated
land under irrigation, ranks seventh
in the world. At the same time, more
than 8 million hectares of agricultural
land in Iran is subjected to dry farming.
Watershed operations
in Iran, used to protect water and
soil, dates back to some 50 years.
Statistics indicate that in 1991, more
than ten million hectares of land were
subjected to watershed. Meanwhile,
17.4 million hectares of watershed
areas are under study.
Rivers in Iran
 Nearly all of Iran’s numerous rivers
are relatively short, shallow streams
unsuitable for navigation. The country’s
only navigable river, the Karun,
flows through the city of Ahvaz in
the southwest. Most rivers rise in
the mountainous regions and drain
into the interior basins.
Since ancient
times, the region’s inhabitants
have used the rivers for irrigation.
Water Resources Challenges
 Being
amongst water scarcity countries,
it is estimated that by 2025 Iran
will suffer serious environmental
degradation unless adequate environmental
management is applied.
The increasing
level of sedimentation, industrial,
agricultural and urban development,
industrial and domestic wastes,
the discharging of these wastewaters
directly into the river, and lack
of wastewater collection networks
in most of the cities in Iran,
is a problem.
Insecticides, herbicides and other
pesticides, radioactive wastes,
silt from gravel washing or soil
erosion, cooling water used in
steam or atomic energy plants cause
a definite increase of river pollution
and will adversely affect aquatic
life if these pollutants are not
properly treated or excluded from
streams, reservoirs or lakes.
Construction of major
hydropower facilities and the expansion of
agricultural areas have resulted
in lower summer river flows and
higher concentrations of pollution
in most of the rivers in Iran.
Furthermore,
forests and vegetation employed
as flood barriers are in danger,
both because of excess in usage
but also due to a shortage in
rainfall. The lack of effective
solutions for watershed problems
and the problems in sophisticated
management of upstream river
basins threaten the provinces
with possible floods.
Solutions
 In order to control water pollution
in an effective way, there is a requirement
to introduce legislation that will
cover all aspects relating to water
pollution.
The second step would be the implementation
and management of that legislation
in order to achieve the most effective
result.
Good water resource
management requires reliable information.
It is by ensuring
that water data acquisition and management
systems are properly developed, maintained
and coordinated that the government
can meet the growing demand for knowledge
required for effective quantitative
and qualitative water resource management.
First Water Quality
Monitoring System in Iran
|
|
In 2003 Narvan
Arra initiated the
very first “River
Water Quality Monitoring Network”
in Iran and across the Karun and Dez catchments, by establishing
a series of field stations
at key location of the rivers
from Dez and Abbaspour
Dams down to Persian
Gulf. This
project included activities
such as design, equipment supply,
installation, commissioning,
training and after sales support.
Adding an advanced Flood
Forecasting and Warning System upstream of Karun and
Dez Rivers is maturing this water quality monitoring system on the downstream
of rivers.
This key project
is designed to provide real
time data and alerts in the
event of increased flows through
the Karun and Dez river basins
and shall additionally provide
invaluable water level, discharge,
rainfall and climatic condition
data.
Narvan Arra
is now developing a Physical
and Chemical Water Quality
Monitoring System for Karkheh River that includes remote
hydrological and meteorological
measuring stations, with a
redundant telecommunication
system based on PSTN / GSM
and satellite communication.
Data obtained
from this system will allow
the Khuzestan
Water and Power Authority, affiliated to the
Iran
Ministry of Energy, to
make best practice management
decisions about the control,
storage, treatment and optimization
of water resources in the catchments
and assist in the protection
of the vital wetlands in the
region.
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