TEHRAN – The Forests, Range and Watershed Management Organization has enhanced the country’s watershed capacity to resist floods, 1.5 million hectares of which have so far undergone flood resilience measures, the Organization’s director for watershed management has announced.

Flood damages have declined by 50-70 percent and in some cases by 100 percent in the wetlands and lake basins being flood resilient, ISNA quoted Abolqasem Hosseinpour as saying on Saturday.

Referring to watershed management system being adopted in the country over the past 60 years, he noted that given the country’s climatic characteristic, being flood prone and being haunted by recurrent droughts, flood protection measures have become more important gradually.

“Some 37 stations have been set up to harvest rain water and in 330 cases floodwater have been stored and pumped into wetlands or farms,” he highlighted, adding, assessments show that each hectare can store 1,000 cubic meters of water in aquafers.

By the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 2019), over 1.1 million hectares of lands will be covered by the Organization’s flood resilience plans, he concluded.

In September 2018, Naser Heidaripouri deputy director for watershed management at Forests, Range and Watershed Management Organization said that a total budget of $200 million from National Development Fund (NDF) is earmarked for implementation of aquifers and watershed management projects throughout the country.

Provinces of Khorasan Razavi, Kerman, Fars, Isfahan and Sistan-Baluchestan are of high priority to be provided with the budget due to severity of the issues they are facing, he added.

FB/MQ/MG