TEHRAN –Some 27.33 billion cubic meters of water is stored behind the dams across Iran, indicating that 54 percent of the capacity of the country’s dams is full, according to the Iranian Energy Ministry data.

Based on the Energy Ministry data, the total capacity of the country’s dam reservoirs currently stands at 50.5 billion cubic meters.

As reported by IRNA, since the beginning of the current water year (late September 2020) up to late February, the total volume of water inflow to the reservoirs of the country's dams stood at 13.75 billion cubic meters, nine percent less than the figure for the last year’s same period.

According to the Energy Ministry data, compared to the figures for the previous water year, the volume of water outflow from the country's dams has also decreased by 17 percent to stand at 13.61 billion cubic meters.

Back in December 2020, the director of planning affairs at Iran Water and Power Resources Development Company (IWPCO) had announced that all dams across the country were fully prepared for handling potential floods in the winter and spring.

Due to the heavy rainfalls across Iran in mid-December 2020, the empty volume of the country’s dam reservoirs had been reduced to 2.6 billion cubic meters, Mohammad Mousavi Kani said on December 19.

Earlier in May 2020, the Energy Ministry’s portal (Paven) had announced that 190 dams, with a total reservoir capacity of 48.488 billion cubic meters, were understudy or being constructed across Iran.

As reported, 90 of the mentioned dams with a total reservoir capacity of 29.724 billion cubic meters were under study and another 100 dams with a total reservoir capacity of 18.7672 billion cubic meters were under construction.

Out of a total of 183 currently operational dams across Iran, 52 are related to the Caspian Sea catchment area, 12 are based in Urumieh basin, 68 dams are located in the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman watersheds, 34 dams are in the Central Plateau, 11 dams are in Sarakhs catchment basin, and another six dams are located across the eastern boundary basin (Hamoun).

EF/MA