Afghanistan Water Basins

a short description of water, its availability world wide and its uses + Afghanistan's land cover and its water scenario + description of Afghanistan five major rivers, Dams and water basins.

1. Afghanistan River Basins

2. Introduction What is water? Chemical structure: H 2 O Physical forms: liquid, solid and vapors Water is needed for life Holy Qura’n also mentions… Main difference between planet earth and other planets Water is cleaner Water is flowing (it has kinetic energy)

3. Uses of Water Agriculture Industrial Domestic Transportation

4. Afghanistan Located at crossroads of major trade routes Landlocked country (water flows to neighbors) Covered mostly by mountains It has 250 mm precipitation in average Receives 163 billion cu.m water per year 75 billion cu.m flows on rivers Afghanistan has five famous rivers, 250 big rivers and thousands of small rivers

5. Hindukush Group of mountain ranges running north east to south west across the country divides Afghanistan into three major regions The central highland (2/3 of countries area) south west Plateau (1/4 of the land) northern plane area (countries’ most fertile soil) more than 80% of water originate from it

6. Afghanistan R iver Basins There are five river basins defined in Afghanistan. 1 . The Kabul (Indus) river basin 2. The Helmand river basin 3. The Harirud-Murghab river basin 4. The Amu Darya river basin 5. The Northern river basin

7. Kabul (Indus) River basin Includes all Afghanistan Rivers that join the Indus Covers 76908 sqr.km of Afghanistan 12% of Afghanistan territory, but alone it drains 26% of the total annual water flow 7184900 ( 93 per sqr.km) population lives in it It is divided into eight main watersheds Most of hydro power plants are in this basin

8. Kabul River Main river in Kabul basin Starts from SangLakh range of Hindukush, and empties into Indus in attack passes through K abul, Laghman, Jalalabad and Peshawar Length 700 km, with 20 billion cu.m annual flow Tributaries: Right: Punjsher river, Kunar river, Alingar river and Swat river Left: Logar river and Bara river on the

9. Dams on K abul R iver Sarobi hydropower plant ; covers 2 sqr.km area, dam height is 18 meters and it has capacity of producing 25 MW electricity Naghlo hydropower plant; covers 16 sqr.km area , height; 106 meters, has capacity of storing 530 million cubic meter water and power of producing 97 MW electricity

10. Cont… Dams on Kabul River Daronta power plant and canal system: T he dam is; 22 m high, 140 m long and 7.5 sqr.km in area. It has 40.5 million cu.m storing capacity and 11 MW power generation capacity Daronta canal system irrigates large area of Jalalabad and Laghman provinces . P roject of building 12 dams on Kabul river by Indians that collectively will have the capacity of storing 4.7 MAF (125% of Mangla dam)

11. Helmand River (Sistan) basin Largest basin of Afghanistan Covers 288000 sqr.km, 43% of Afghanistan territory 5800000 ( 20 per sqr.km) population Drains only 11% of the total annual flow of the country Water of this basin drains into four lakes; (Hamun-i Saberi, Hamun-i Puzak, Hamun-i Shapour, and Hamun-i Helmand) of S istan region The basin includes fifteen watersheds

12. Helmand River Longest river in Afghanistan Starts from Hindukush 80 km west of Kabul and falls to Hamun -e-Helmand near Zabul 1250 km long with 10 billion cu.m annual flow Main tributaries include: Arghandab river, Khash river, Chagai river It has two dams ( kajaki and arghandab ) mostly used for irrigation large quantity of its water exits Afghanistan

13. Harirud and Murghab river basin covers 77500 sqr.km of Afghanistan territory Drains 4% of the total annual flow in Afghanistan 2340000 ( 28 per sqr.km) population It has four watersheds Harirud ( Hari River, Herat River ): starts from koh -e- baba (part of Hindukush), flows 1100 km and disappears in the Karakum desert in Turkmenistan Salma dam is recently constructed on this river in south of herat province

14. Amu River Basin C overs 105000 sqr.km of Afghanistan land 4580000 (44 per sqr.km) population 14% of the national territory 57 % of total annual water flow of Afghanistan It has 5 watersheds in Afghanistan Amu River, Oxus or :جیحون Starts from northern Hindukush, flows 2400 km and falls into Aral sea Potential of hydro power plant Low elevation according A fghanistan territory

15. Northern river basin least annual flow (2% of the total annual flow of Afghanistan) A ll of the water is used within the national boundaries of the country. It has four watersheds

16. Conclusion Water is basic need of life Afghanistan has 250 mm precipitation in average the land gets 163 billion cu.m of water per year 18 billion cu.m penetrates to soil 75 billion cu.m flows on rivers 20 out 75 billion cu.m water of its rivers is used, remaining exits Afghanistan without any use Its water flow has high velocity so it is suitable for damming and hydro power generation

17. Thank You Presented by: Ali Momen BS Envi . Sci. International Islamic University, Islamabad