Irrigation
In the past five millennia, people around Hamoun Oasis, for the most part, lived in harmony with the
wetland
A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...
s and their wildlife. Specific culture formed around the Hamoun with a way of life suited to the desert wetlands. They fashioned long reed boats to navigate the shallow waters and erected squat, red clay houses to withstand the heat of the desert. Their livelihood was based almost entirely on hunting, fishing, and farming.
Until the late 20th century,
irrigation
Irrigation (also referred to as watering) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow Crop, crops, Landscape plant, landscape plants, and Lawn, lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,00 ...
waxed and waned in the
Sīstān Basin for over 4,000 years without destroying the wetlands, but then population rapidly increased and new water management technologies were brought to the region. Soon irrigation schemes began to snake their way throughout the basin. Farther west, revolving Afghan governments constructed large dams (Arghandab Dam,
Kajaki Dam
The Kajaki Dam is one of the two major hydroelectric power dams of Helmand Province, Helmand province in southern Afghanistan. The dam is located on the Helmand River 100 miles (161 km) north-west of Kandahar and is operated by the Helmand an ...
) that diverted water from the upper reaches of the river.
Devastation by extreme droughts in 1999-2001
Precipitation variability in the
Hindu Kush
The Hindu Kush is an mountain range in Central and South Asia to the west of the Himalayas. It stretches from central and western Afghanistan, Quote: "The Hindu Kush mountains run along the Afghan border with the North-West Frontier Provinc ...
results in alternating periods of flooding in the
Helmand
Helmand (Pashto/Dari: ; ), also known as Hillmand, in ancient times, as Hermand and Hethumand, is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, in the south of the country. It is the largest province by area, covering area. The province contains 13 ...
and droughts, which may cause entire lagoons to dry up. This occurred several times in the 20th century when only the uppermost of the lakes remained flooded.
Landsat satellite imagery show how dramatic decrease in precipitation resulted in decrease of snow-covered area in the Helmand Basin, from 41,000 km
2 in 1998 to 26,000 km
2 in 2000. By 2001, Iran and Afghanistan were experienced for the third consecutive year an extreme drought that was so severe that the Hamoun dried out completely.
Sīstān's population, swelled by refugees from war-torn Afghanistan, has been severely affected by water shortages. Irrigation channels have run dry and agriculture has come to a standstill, which has resulted in the abandonment of many villages as people migrate in search of water.
Combination of drought and the massive irrigation proved to be a shock to the
wetland
A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...
s. Within five years period (1998-2002) once fertile wetlands rapidly deteriorated. We could reasonably presume that transformation of Hamoun into arid country, like their surrounding areas, was mainly caused by irrigated agriculture expansion since the 1970s (represent as bright red patches on satellite images, mainly wheat and barley), coupled with one of the worst droughts ever witnessed in Central Asia in 1999-2001 period.
The wetlands have been replaced mostly by lifeless
salt flats Salt flats, Salt flat, Salt Flats, or Salt Flat may refer to: Geology
*Salt pan (geology), a flat expanse of ground covered with salt and other minerals
* Dry lake, an ephemeral lakebed that consists of fine-grained sediments infused with alkali sal ...
and decaying
reed stands. The wildlife, the towns, the fisheries, and the agriculture that once surrounded the Hamoun have all fallen away, giving rise to a wasteland.
Winds that were once cooled by the waters of the wetlands now drifting dust, sand, and salt from the dried lakebeds onto the surrounding villages, and these sand drifts have submerged nearly 100 villages beneath dunes in a landscape reminiscent of the
Aral Sea
The Aral Sea ( ; kk, Арал теңізі, Aral teñızı; uz, Орол денгизи, Orol dengizi; kaa, Арал теңизи, Aral teńizi; russian: Аральское море, Aral'skoye more) was an endorheic basin, endorheic lake lyi ...
disaster. Most of the crops have been reduced to dust bowl conditions,
livestock
Livestock are the domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to provide labor and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is sometimes used to refer solely to animals ...
herds have been decimated, and thriving fishery with an annual catch of around 12,000 tons has been wiped out. Many who had lived around the Hamoun for generations either moved away or lost everything.
Local bird population disappeared and migratory birds no longer stop for lack of refuge, and wildlife that could not sustain themselves in the desert or make the long journey to another oasis died.
The rest of the
wetland
A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...
s now give off the harsh glare of dried
salt flats Salt flats, Salt flat, Salt Flats, or Salt Flat may refer to: Geology
*Salt pan (geology), a flat expanse of ground covered with salt and other minerals
* Dry lake, an ephemeral lakebed that consists of fine-grained sediments infused with alkali sal ...
. The only relatively large bodies of standing water are
Chāh-Nīmeh IV reservoir maintained for drinking water.
See also
*
Sīstān Basin
*
Helmand River
The Helmand River (also spelled Helmend, or Helmund, Hirmand; Pashto/Persian: ; Greek: ' (''Etýmandros''); Latin: ') is the longest river in Afghanistan and the primary watershed for the endorheic Sistan Basin. It emerges in the Sanglakh ...
*
Mount Khajeh
Mount Khwaja or Mount Khwajeh ( fa, کوه خواجه, ''Kuh-e Khvājeh'') is a flat-topped black basalt hill rising up as an island in the middle of Lake Hamun, in the Iranian province of Sistan and Baluchestan.
The trapezoid-shaped basalt lav ...
*
Arachosia
Arachosia () is the Hellenized name of an ancient satrapy situated in the eastern parts of the Achaemenid empire. It was centred around the valley of the Arghandab River in modern-day southern Afghanistan, and extended as far east as the ...
*
Drangiana
Drangiana or Zarangiana ( el, Δραγγιανή, ''Drangianē''; also attested in Old Western Iranian as 𐏀𐎼𐎣, ''Zraka'' or ''Zranka'', was a historical region and administrative division of the Achaemenid Empire. This region comprise ...
*
Sistan
Sistān ( fa, سیستان), known in ancient times as Sakastān ( fa, سَكاستان, "the land of the Saka"), is a historical and geographical region in present-day Eastern Iran ( Sistan and Baluchestan Province) and Southern Afghanistan (N ...
Notes
References
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External links
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{{Nimruz Province
Endorheic lakes of Asia
Hamun, Lake
Hamun, Lake
Helmand River drainage basin
Helmand River
Wetlands of Afghanistan
Wetlands of Iran
Archaeological sites in Iran
Ramsar sites in Iran
Landforms of Farah Province
Landforms of Nimruz Province
Landforms of Kandahar Province
Landforms of Sistan and Baluchestan Province
Landforms of Zabul Province
Biosphere reserves of Iran
Sistan