TEHRAN – Hamoun-e Sabori wetland on the Iran-Afghanistan border has been saturated, as rainwater flowed over 18,000 hectares of the wetland, Mohammad Reza Alimoradi, head of marine affairs at the Sistan-Baluchestan provincial department of environment has announced.

The Hamouns are transboundary wetlands on the border of Iran and Afghanistan made up of three lakes: Hamoun-e Helmand, which is entirely in Iran, Hamoun-e Sabori on the border, and Hamoun-e Puzak, almost entirely inside Afghanistan. The three lakes are linked and fed by water from the Helmand River which starts in the Hindu Kush Mountains in Afghanistan.

“Water entered 18,000 hectares of the wetland in the country, after the afghan part has been soaked in water,” Alimoradi said, IRNA reported on Saturday.

Due to the recurrent droughts and extreme dryness, the wetland soil surface is slowly getting wet and moisturized, so the water level is gradually increasing, he added.

He went on to say that water level at Iranian part of Hamoun-e Sabori wetland is currently less than 50 centimeters, so long as the whole wetland is filled, the water level will start enhancing.

He further expressed hope that water completely fill the wetland in the coming months along with increased precipitation rate in Afghanistan.

FB/MG