TEHRAN – Dam construction has been the most important factor preventing the revitalization of Jazmourian wetland, Vahid Pourmardan, head of Sistan-Baluchestan province’s department of environment, has said.

Halilrood is one of the main rivers feeding the wetland, while the Ministry of Energy has built a dam on it, which has caused agricultural prosperity upstream, so that harvest of greenhouse and agricultural products in some cities like Jiroft increased, Pourmardan explained.

Nestled between the provinces of Kerman and Sistan-Baluchestan, Jazmourian is one of the two major wetlands in southeast Iran, which is on the knife-edge of complete desiccation as a result of climate change, excessive dam construction, low precipitation, high-temperature rates, and the depletion of groundwater resources. While downstream is facing water deficiency, due to the fact that water rights of the wetland have not yet released, so that farmers started to dig several wells in the area, he lamented.

The multiplicity of wells has caused the destruction of underground aquifers in the region and the same cultivation model in the future can cause the Jazmourian wetland’s bed to subside, he emphasized.

Measures have been implemented so far to deal with these incidents and an integrated plan for Jazmourian wetland has been prepared during the past two years, he stated.

Regretting that in recent years, the region also faced a loss of vegetation and the Wetland started generating dust, he said that vegetation depletion has intensified sand and dust storms in Sistan-Baluchestan and its surrounding cities.

Unfortunately, the Jazmourian wetland, which was one of the main habitats of bird migratory, has now become a seasonal wetland that may be irrigated every three to four seasons with floods and rainfall, he further said.

If sufficient water rights are defined for the Jazmourian wetland, it will be much more effective to recover the vegetation in the area and control dust hotspots, he suggested.

He went on to add that the wetland has a great effect on air conditioning during summer at the time of 120-day winds in both Sistan and Baluchestan regions, IRNA reported on Saturday.

The dryness of this wetland has social consequences and leads the farmers who made a living to illegal activities such as fuel smuggling, he also lamented.

Nestled between the provinces of Kerman and Sistan-Baluchestan, Jazmourian is one of the two major wetlands in southeast Iran, which is on the knife-edge of complete desiccation as a result of climate change, excessive dam construction, low precipitation, high-temperature rates, and the depletion of groundwater resources.

The area of the Hamoon and Jazmourian basin stretches to 69,600 square kilometers, with the western part of 35,600 square kilometers in Kerman province and the eastern part of 34,000 square kilometers in Sistan-Baluchestan province.

In local dialect ‘Jaz’ means ‘plants’ and ‘Mourian’ means ‘plenty’ therefore, Jazmourian means land with plenty of plants, which was once home to countless migratory birds and numerous marine species.
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