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Meanwhile, the Afghan state has taken steps to build dams on rivers that feed the Hamun International Wetland, home to 284 species of animals, but according to the director of the Hamun International Wetland Institute, there is little hope for recovery. But unlike Lake Urmia, it can be saved by creating a common diplomatic language.
The Hamun Lagoon, a watershed that draws water from its neighbors and gives life to all of them, is now quietly dying in the shadow of the lack of a common diplomatic language, and researchers have no hope of reviving it when speaking its language. Because neighboring Kemal has built many dams on the rivers that lead to Hamun, during floods, the overflow from these dams is diverted to Shorzar Gud Zere instead of to this life-giving wetland.
Hamon International Lake and Wetland is the third largest lake in Iran after Lake Mazandaran and Lake Urmia, the seventh largest international wetland in the world, and one of the Iranian Biosphere Reserves. Hamon Lake and Wetland is located in the Sistan Region and the Sistan and Baluchistan Province.
The lake consists of three small lakes named “Hamon Pozak”, “Hamon Saberi” and “Hamon Hirmand”. These lakes merge together when the water is abundant to form the common Hamon Lake between Afghanistan and Iran, and the water enters the Gudzel Salt Marsh through Shil in Iran.
Hamun Pozak is fed by the Parian tributaries of the Helmand, Kashgar and Kospas rivers. Hamun Pozak is located at 61 degrees 50 minutes longitude and 31 degrees 45 minutes latitude at an altitude of 476.5 meters. It covers an area of about 1,484 square kilometers, the largest part of this wetland in Nimruz Province, Afghanistan, of which about 330 square kilometers are in Iran.
Hamon Sabiri is also about 475 meters above sea level, and the main part covers an area of about 1,029 square kilometers. This part is located in the northwest of the Sistan Plain, between Iran and part of Afghanistan, and is larger than Hamon Pozak. The water source of Hamon Sabiri comes from the Farah River and the Harut River, as well as the Hamon Pozak spillway. It is located in the southern part of Hamon Sabiri in Iran and is deeper.
Hamon Helmand is located in the western part of the Sistan Plain, 470 meters above sea level, with an area of 411 square kilometers. It is fed by the Sistan River, the Shor River and the Hamon Sabri River.
The waters are home to 55 plant species and 284 animal species, including 28 mammals, 183 birds, 44 reptiles, 7 amphibians and 22 fish species, making it the most important water supply river for the Hamun River. The largest wetland is the Helmand River, with 7.5 billion cubic meters, followed by the Farah River, with 1.25 billion cubic meters, the Harut River, with 210 million cubic meters, and the Khashrud River, with 170 million cubic meters.
According to statistics, the basin provides a total of more than 9 billion cubic meters of Hamon water. According to the drought index from 1983 to 2019, severe droughts occurred from 2001 to 2019, and extreme droughts occurred in 2019.
According to the head of the Hamun International Wetland Research Institute, the construction of numerous dams in Afghanistan is one of the reasons for the reduction in water volume in the Hamun wetland. The country’s “Kaiki” dam has a storage capacity of about 2.8 billion cubic meters, which is about one-third of the storage of Lake Hamun. The country’s Kamal Khan Dam also has a storage capacity of 52 million cubic meters, which will soon be filled with huge floods, but its overflow did not enter the downstream of Iran, but the excess water of the Kamal Khan Dam capacity was directed through the first bowl to the second bowl, and then reached Gozare as a salt marsh area close to Iran.
Current status of Hamon Wetland
Javad Mirdar Harijani, director of the International Institute for Wetland Research at Hamoun, described the situation in the Hamoun wetlands as better this year than in previous years due to the presence of 1,403 water bodies, and said: According to the Ministry of Energy, about 392 million cubic meters of water entered Hamoun in the form of floods, but more than 3 million cubic meters of water have entered Gudzare (a salt marsh in Nimruz province, Afghanistan, where the Hamoun Hillmand overflows through the Hill River at high water levels).
He added: “From the amount of water that comes into Hamon, some of it is stored in the Nahud well and some is directed to Hamon Hillmand.”
Mirdal Khalijani noted that a small part of the Sabri Dam on the Iranian side has been filled with water, while part of the water from the Parian River, which forms the border between Iran and Afghanistan, has entered the Bozak Dam.
The head of Hamon International Wetland Research Institute stressed that Sabri Hamon received the most water and continued: This is due to the flooding of the Farah River, which brought some water to Bozak Hamon through Hashrud. Part of the water from the Sistan River was also diverted to Hamon Helmand.
Mirdar Harijani stressed that this situation is not sustainable for Hamun, saying: Due to the strong winds and high temperatures that have lasted for 120 days, this water is evaporating and eventually we will have dry Hamun until water enters the country next year.
Our life before Kamal Khan
He explained the situation of the Hamon wetlands, saying: Until the completion of the Kamal Khan Dam in Afghanistan in 1400, the situation was that floods from Afghanistan entered Iran, part of it was stored in wells, the rest went to Hamon Helmand, and on the other hand, water entered the Hamon Saberi through the Farah River. In other words, whenever a flood occurred, water would enter Hamon.
Mirdar Harijani said that this situation in Hamon will continue until the end of each summer and continued: After that, Hamon will not receive water until the next water year.
He added: But since the construction of Kamal Khan Dam in 1400, very little water has actually entered Iran, so according to the Ministry of Energy statistics in 2019, about 32 million cubic meters of water entered Iran from Helmand, about 27 years. In 1400-1401, 1 million cubic meters entered Iran, and about 700,000 cubic meters in 1401-1402, and this year 392 million cubic meters entered Iran through the Helmand flood.
Researchers in the Hamun wetland area stressed: With the construction of the Kamal Khan Dam, most of the floods in Helmand were diverted to the Armoured Pit. This year, it has good water compared to Hamun, but the wetland has never paid for its water.
He mentioned Hamun’s annual water rights of 820 million cubic meters and pointed out: This is not just the result of hydro-diplomacy. The life of this basin is now divided into two parts before and after the construction of Kamal Khan Dam. Most of Hamun’s problems are related to Kamal Khan Dam.
The head of the Hamon International Wetland Research Center stressed that Hamon’s water rights have not been received so far, and what has been received is caused by inter-basin floods, adding: Since Afghanistan could not control this flood, this water entered Iran, but since then the construction of the Kamal Khan Dam has been stopped to prevent these floods.
According to him, Kamal Khan Dam is a diversion dam with a water intake capacity of 52 million cubic meters, which can divert a large amount of water into the armored pit through overflow.
Our environment after Kamal Khan
Mirdar Khalijani said that with the construction of the Afghan dam, almost no water will reach Iran, and said: “The important artery of Sistan is the Hamun River, and no one can deny it, whether in terms of culture, employment, economy, or environmental issues.”
He added: “When there is water in Hammons, the number of dust storms is much less and it acts like a cooler for Sistan because the wind passes through Hammons and brings cold air into Sistan, but when there is no water in Hammons, we have seen various problems in Sistan; unless it is provided through wells, agricultural activities completely stop and abandoned farmlands also become one of the areas most prone to dust.”
The director of the Hamun International Wetland Research Institute mentioned that the drying up of this wetland can lead to eye, heart and respiratory diseases, and warned: The worst thing is that the people of Sistan will fall into an atmosphere of despair, and eventually we will witness a large-scale migration of the region. Every year, when we encounter poor water conditions and sandstorms, more and more people from Sistan leave the region because with the drying up of the Hamun River, the region’s ability to survive is lost.
In vain we stop our research
Mirdar Harijani stressed that it was virtually impossible to conduct much research on the basin when there was no water in Hamun, a situation he described as very sad, adding: Our research is mainly focused on the dust, while issues such as alternative livelihoods that allow them to cope and adapt to the drought conditions in the area are among the most important issues in our province.
He continued: “Business owners such as agriculture, livestock and handicrafts that use the power of Hamon to produce products have turned to alternative livelihoods. It seems that we have to deal with the situation of Hamon drought, and it seems that we don’t need to do this to revive and return to our previous state.”
The member of the University of Sistan and Balochistan added: Maybe due to rainfall like this year, water will reach us from Helmand and Farah, but considering that the Bakhshabad Dam is being built on the Farah River, after its completion, the Farah River, where the water of Hamun is supplied, please be patient, it will actually be closed.
He continued: Afghanistan is building a dam on the Kashrud River, which supplies water to Hammon Bozak, and this river has also been effectively closed.
Harijani added: Based on these facts, we cannot expect Hammon to revive. Lake Urmia is a country that we manipulated ourselves and turned into dry land, but Hammons needs Afghanistan’s cooperation and we must find a common language with this country.
He stressed that what happened in Hamoun would have consequences not only for Iran, but would certainly affect other countries such as Afghanistan and Pakistan.
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