Afghanistan River Basins

Introduction• What is water?– Chemical structure: H2O– 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)

Uses of Water

• Agriculture • Industrial • Domestic • Transportation

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

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

Afghanistan River 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

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

Kabul River

• Main river in Kabul basin • Starts from SangLakh range of Hindukush, and empties

into Indus in attack• passes through Kabul, 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

Dams on Kabul River

• 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

Cont…Dams on Kabul River

• Daronta power plant and canal system:– The 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.

• Project of building 12 dams on Kabul river by Indians that collectively will have the capacity of storing 4.7 MAF (125% of Mangla dam)

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 Sistan region • The basin includes fifteen watersheds

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

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

Amu River Basin

• Covers 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 Afghanistan territory

Northern river basin

• least annual flow (2% of the total annual flow of Afghanistan)

• All of the water is used within the national boundaries of the country.

• It has four watersheds

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

Thank YouPresented by:

Ali MomenBS Envi. Sci.

International Islamic University, Islamabad