TEHRAN - Some 190 dams, with a total reservoir capacity of 48.488 billion cubic meters, are under study or being constructed across Iran, IRIB reported.

According to the Energy Ministry’s portal (Paven), 90 of the mentioned dams with a total reservoir capacity of 29.724 billion cubic meters are under study and another 100 dams with a total reservoir capacity of 18.7672 billion cubic meters are under construction.

Also, as of the current Iranian calendar year’s first month of Farvardin (ended on April 19), 183 dams with a total reservoir capacity of 52.443 billion cubic meters have been put into operation.

As reported, out of the total dams under study, 31 dams are located across the Caspian Sea basin, 52 dams are in the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman watersheds, while five dams are based in the central plateau and another two are in Sarakhs catchment area.

Out of a total of 183 operational dams, 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).

Last year, Energy Ministry inaugurated 10 new dams in six different provinces across the country which added 745 million cubic meters (mcm) to the total water storage capacity of Iran’s dams.

The mentioned dams were inaugurated as a part of a major program called “A B Iran” [the acronyms A and B stand for water, electricity in Persian”, in which nearly 10 trillion rials (over $238 million) of projects were inaugurated in each of the country’s provinces, on average.  

The program has continued in the current calendar year (started on March 20).

Based on the “A B Iran” program, Energy Ministry plans to inaugurate some water, electricity projects across the country every week.

Back in March, Managing Director of Iran Water Resources Management (IWRM) Company Mohammad Rasouliha said more than 30 billion cubic meters of water was stored behind the dams across the country at the time.

EF/MA