STUDY OF THE DATA ON THE WATER FLOW OF THE HELMAND RIVER

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP08C01297R000100130013-5
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 7
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 6, 2012
• Sequence Number: 13
• Publication Date: January 18, 1955
• Content Type: MISC

" Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/11/16: CIA-RDP08001297R000100130013-5 CE
? PRIORITY (Security Classification) -4SX416?-%gi
FOREIGN SERVICE DESPATCH
FROM
TO
REF
/I
For Dept.
Use Only
SUBJECT:
AMEM8ASSY, TEILTUT
331
THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE, WASHINGTON.
ACTION 41,
Nin
RE/
I 3/
DESP. NO.
DEM
C,/f-' 2.- 0-.2.
F OTHER
? PO4-/o X),74'3
02 611
,frAr! ?-4/fre?
January if - 55
DATE
Study of the Data on the '..ater Plow of the Helmand River
The Embassy transmits herewith a study of the available data on the water
[flow of the Helmand River made by 14*. Karl Jetter, Hydrologist of USOM/Iran.
Since Mr. 'letter serves under the Geological Survey Division of the United
States Department of Interior (U.S.G.S.) he has reouested that, according to
usual procedures, his rei_ort and the four accoepanyine plates be forwarded to
this Livision for analysis and review.
This study was eeereeeen at the request of Ambassador Henderson in an
attempt to establish what factual basis there might be in recent available
data for the recurrent quarrels betwen Iran and Afehanistan over the question
of the aeportionment of the waters of the Helmand River and, primarily, to
detereine the effects of ee operation of the two dams in !fghanistat on the
river flaw. The dcea on w?ich this study is based were collected, on the one
hand, under the supervision of the U.S.G.S. engineers from six g. e:ing
stations in _:_feheristan enri, on the other., by the Irrigation Department of the
Iranian liristry of A-riculaire from two e Einr: stations on the Sistan River,
one of the two distributaries of the Helmand River in Iranian Sister". The
data of the US.G.S. were received under cover of USCM A-18 dated April 7, 1954,
from USOM/kfghenistan. These data are provisional and preliminary and are
subject to review, while the data from the Iranian g_gileg stations cannot be
consid red wholly satisfactory, Vevertheless, taken together, these data do
offer the possibility of drawing certain broad conclusions:
(1) rrhe two dees In 'f:henisen, tho Lkai on the ?elrend, ear-, the
erghandal, on its tributary, tae-eghaneeb River, in operation since Jamiery
1953 and February 1952 respectively, haee resulted in a material ree'uction of
the magnitude of the floods end the length of tlre of flooding in Iranian
Sistan and have eeerecially increased the low water flows. The more even
distribution of the water flow, loth from se son to season within each year
and from year to year, should, under normal irrigation practices, le tenefici91
to the agriculture of Iranian Sistan.
(2) The total onnuel euantities of eeter re._ hire- the Sistan Fiver durire
the recent period of record have been in excess of those estieeted in 151 by
the Helmand River Delta Commission (The ?Feutrel Commission") as teire reeluired
by Iranian Sistsn. The Commission estim-tei: thyt Iranian Sistan reuired an
CChaemanmpk/erc
REPORTER
INFORMATION COPY
Retain in divisional files or destroy in accordance with security regulations.
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annual flow from the Helmand of less than 600,000 acre-feet, whereas the estima-
ted average over the last four years (May 1950 - February 1954) has been
3,000,000 acre-feet and the flow in the driest year was 1,400,000 acre-feet.
(3) In all probability, the extent of the pasture lands in Iranian
Sistan will te reduced by the action of the dams, since these pastures are
dependent on the flood flows, and the cattle industry in the Sistan Province
may thereby suffer.
(4) There is insufficient data to reach an acceptable dete -ination of
the quantitaAve effects of the operations of the Affi.hanistan dams on the water
flow entering Iranien Sistan. The dams have been in operation too short a time,
the points of discharge measurement too few, and the records zoo short to offer
valid and accurate long-term comeerisons. There are at present not enough
g.. Ring st.ticns nor have some of the g- _ring stations in operation provided
satisfactor.!- data.
The Embassy has in preparation a second despatch on the Helmand River that
will analyze the recent Iranian note to the Afghan Government on this matter.
For the 3har,e d'Affairs o.i.
Enclosures:
1. Inretation of the Feta on the
eeter Flow of the Heinen:1 River
2. Elate I
Plate II
4- liete III
5. Plate IV
Copies to:
American Embassy, London
American Embassy, Kabul
American Consulate, Meshed
USOM/I
William Koren, Jr.
Counselor of Embassy
For Political Affairs
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Yroin? (Classification) Des!'. No 331
From____Tehman
Interpretation of the Data on tbe dater Flow of the Helmand River
(Report by Karl Jetter, Hydraulic Engineer, U.S. Geological Survey, Technical
Advisor USOM/Iran)
1. The two purposes of this review of the Helmand River records are to
evaluate (a) the change in river regimen caused by the completion and opera-
tion of the two dams in AfghaniAan, the Kajakai on the Helmand River and the
Arghandab on its Arghandab tributary, and (b) the quantities of water which
have flowed into Iranian Sistan during the period of record to determine if
Iranian Sistan was receiving its required share of the Helmand River flow as
estimated by the Helmand River Delta Commission.
2. The data for this survey were obtained from the following sources:
a) The Geological Survey of the U.S. Department of the Interior
(U .S.), which gives water flow measurements:
Of the Helmand River:
above the Kajalcai Dam since 1953
below the Kajakai Dam since 1947
at Chahar Burjak (Oct. 1949 to March 1951
Oct. 1953 to date) This gauging station
is some 4fl miles upstream from the Iranian
frontier.
Of the Arghandab River: above the Arghandab Dam since 1952
below the Arghan:ab Dam since 1948
at Kala Dist, cn the Arghandab above its
juncture with the Helmand 2iver, since 1950.
It should be pointed out that the data from this source are provisional, but are
considered in this renort to be good to fir, and reliable during the period of
reservoir operation (since January 2, 1953 for the Kajakai dam, and since
February 24, 1952 for the Arghandab dam).
b) The Irrigation Bonah of the Iranian Ministry of Agriculture. In
1947 the Bongah established a gauging station about half a kilometer below the
Sistan elver head, above Band-i-Kohak.'? 3ocaus.?, of varying backwater from
diversion dams downstream, evaluation of the data from this station is very
difficult and another station was therefore established in 1950 at a site a
short distance below Band-i-ohak, some 15 kilometers from the Sistan's head.
Unless measurements are taken of the water diverted into the irrigation canals
between the two stations, the measurements of the total inflow into the Sistan
River are not correct. Moreover, the water flow of the Sistan is only a part
of the total discharge into Iranian Sistan. The Helmand lUerer divides into two
branches after entering SistEn Province, the Sistan and the Parian Rivers.
(The latter is also called the Gammon River and for about ten miles forms the
I* Band means dam in Persian
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boundary between Iran and Afghanistan. Beyond this the Parian divides into
two branches, one of which is the Hirmand River.) Io measurements are at
present being taken of the water flow into the Parian River system. Therefore,
the official Iranian figures of the water flow into Sistan undervalue the
amounts of water actually entering the peovince. However, it is considered
that, on the whole, the figures do give an indication of the changes that have
a currsd in the river regimen as they affect Iranian Sistan due to the opera-
tion of the fghen dams.
3. The effects of the reservoirs on the major source of supply are shown
by discharge data furnished by the U.S.G.S measuring inflow and outflow of
the reservoirs.. The measurements in monthly volumes of water are shown graphi-
cally be Plates I and II, The flows at the damsites are subseauently reflected
in the flow into Iranian distan. Basically, the reserveirs serve to red] ce
floods by storing surplus waters and to increase low flows by later releasing
this surplus,
4. Of the two reservoirs, the Kajakai, with its 1,500,000 acre-feet of
storage capacity, controls in large degree the flow from the major contributing
Helmand River catchment basin and thus primarily determines the total volume
of water as eell as modification of floods and :Tow-water flows in Iranian
Sistan,
The afe7ect of the Kajaheee r-ervoer on the flow of the Helmand River at
the dal site is shown on Plate T, The Kajahai Day was completed in the latter
part of January r53 and started operation in February, at the beginning of the
flood period The flood neriod of that y-ar, lasting from the beginning of
February through Jun-, provided a total inflow of 3,104,0e0 acre-feet.* During
the period of Behel, r:i through May, when the reservoir was storinelothe total
floc' pe iod iiflow was 2,715,000 acre-feet and the total outflow was 1,334,000
acre-feet; t' eeeples over the outflow, amounting to about 1,381,000 acre-feet
(or nearly th2 rlserveir storage capacity), was storeal. fierce a little more
than half of the floc'd eater was held trek from flowing to Iranian Sistan,
are] the peak flows and duration of flooding were correspondingly reduced. Had
this water not hen withheld, it would otherwise have contributed to the
flood eeriod flows and there're to the creation of the pasture lands in Iranian
Sistan. From June through the followine :":ove,ber, c67, 00C acre-feet of the
stored water were released; after that the inflow again exceeded the outflow
and the water was stored, In September, which is the month of the lowest flow,
the augmentation of the low period flow by this stored water increased the
month's volume from 116,-r0 acre-feet just below the dam (which would have been
the flow without the reservoirs) to 283,0'0 acre-feet.
During the period from February through November 1953, the reservoir thus
withheld a net volume of about 414,000 acre-feet of water, which was not
available then for downstream users and was carried over into the next year's
operation.
iFigures given are to the nearest thousand.
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5. The Arghandab reservoir, with its 395,000 acre-feet of storage,
apparently effectively controls the ordinary flows from the small and lower
yielding Arghandab River basin. Its reduction of floods must in some measure
also be elt in Iranian Sistan. However, because of irrigation reouirements in
the reaches between the reservoir and Kale Bist, i.e. along the lower Arghandab
River, most of the surplus flood waters stored in the Arghandab Reservoir and
subseauentle released to increase low period flows contribute little to the
low period flow reaching Sistan. Since the Arghandab reservoir cap-eity is
insufficient completely to retain the major floods of the River, the contribu-
tion of the Arghandab River subsequent to the construction of the reservoir
to the volume of water flowing into the Heleand is essentially the quantity
during floods which is in excess of the reservoir's capacity.
The ef,ect of the Arghandab reservoir on the flow of the Arghandab River
at the damsite is shown on Plate II. The dam was closed February 24, 1952,
and started operation at the beginning of the flood period late in February.
The subsequent flood period through May, had a total inflow of about 550,000
acre-feet. Of this, about 240,000 acre-feet were released and about 310,000
acre-feet retained in storage (or 57 percent of the flood volume and about 79
per cent of the reservoir's storage capacity). Stnese,uently, up to the (ad of
the calendar year, there was released from storage a total of about 68,000 acre-
feet, contributine only a moderate increase of 2,500 acre-feet to the lowest
flow volume in September, increasing the volume from 18,300 acre-feet to
20,800 acre-feet- Hence there were retained in storage be the end of December
1952 about 242,000 acre-feet that otherwise world have flowed towards Sistan.
The small flood of February-April 1953 had a total inflow volume of
311,000 acre.-feet, of a'_Ich 165,000 acre-feet were released and 146,000 acre-
feet were stored.. The total volume in storage at the end of March 1953 was
365,C00 acre-feet, of which 216,000 acre-feet were released during the remainder
of the year retaining in storage at the end of December 1953 about 149,000 acre-
feet*, The relee:e of 34,5C0 acre-feet in September increased the flow from
7,600 to 42,100 acre--eet ,farin: the miiinum-floe nonth.
Exceet for eva-oe-tfon losses and t'ec 1 ?,On. acre-feet retained in storage
at the end of Decen-,-- 1 the rerefnin- volume of the total inflow of
1,298,0r0 acre-feet rece'ved 17 the ree-evoir from the Arghandab catchment basin
during the reriod 'eben-ry 1952 to Dece0ber 1953 was gradually released
throughout Viis eeriod. However, it is probable that it did not provide a total
volume of water in '3istan equal to what it would have provided had the floods
passed uncontrolled, because, as mentioned above, irrigation between the dam
and the Helmand iver probably absorbs a lar.:er part of the total volume when the
flow is regulated. Thus, in two years, a gro7s total of 4.55,500 acre-feet of
surplus flood flow volume was retained for longer or shorter periods and in some
measure must have reduced the total volume which would otherwise have reached
Iranian Sistan. An exact determination of the Reservoir's effect will require
more complete and up-to-date data from the gauging station at Kale hit than
is at present available to this office.
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6. The effects of the Afghan reservoirs on the flow of the oistan iiver
in Iran are also shown by a study of the daily discharge data obtained below
Band-i-Zohak in Iranian Sistan. These data ndicate the total eistan River
flow. Since Band- i-Zohak is 15 kilometers below the head of the Sistan dis-
tributary (of the Beleand), allowance is presumably made for the diversions in
the intervening 15 kilometers. The daily discharge hydrographs are given in
Plates III and IV. A comparison of the daily discharge hydrographs for the
period prior to operation of the reservoirs with that subsequent to this opera-
tion clearly shows the reservoirs effectiveness in reducing floods and in-
creasing low flows.
During the eeriod of record, 1951 was a vear of maximum water supply and
1953 a year of minimum water supply so that di-ect comeerison of the volume
of flow would he misleadine. Comparison of the two veers with respect to the
ratio of the voluae of water flowing during th- flood period to the vo2ume of
water during the dry period does, however, illustrate the effects of the
reservoirs. In 1c:51 the waters were not controlled; they were in 1953. In
1951 the to'al volume of eter during the 5 ncrths of largest flow, from
February through June, amounted to 3,160,000 acre-feet while the volume of
water during the 5 months of lowest flow from 2e7rst through IeceTber, amounted
to 326,000 acre-feet -- a ratio 9.8 to 1. The minimum flow was about 550 cubic
feet per secend. In 1953, the total voDume of water from February through June
amounted to f9C,C0V acre-feet and, from useet through December to 489,000 acre-
feet -- a ratio of 2.2 to 1. The minimum flow wa about 1000 cubic feet per
second. This rakes abundantly clear the fact that the e-fect of the dams is:
(1) to reduce the flood peaks and increase the low water flow, thereby spread-
ing out the water supply throughout the year; and (2) permit a greater con-
sistency of flow from y ar to year.
The predominant effect of the Kajakai outflow is indicated by comparison of
the data from Bend-i-Zohak for the calendar 7-or 1951, before either of the
reservoirs was in operation, with 1952, when Ar-ihendab alone was in operation.
The flood period flows are roughly prorcetiorel to the flood volumes at the
damsite and show no marked effect ettr:bet 'efiet4 the erghandab reservoir, and
similarly the low period flows. This cerfiresir-2-tively minor contributions
made by the Arhandab tributary, as deduced in earaeraeh 5, and, more generally,
the conclusions reached in paregrelhs /, and 5 regarding the effect of the dams.
7. The six-year period of concu rent record of the annual inflows from the
catchment areas into the reserv-ire (Jct. 1947 to September 1953) indicates an
average annual volume of about 5,600,000 acre-feet. The minimum volume for this
six-year period occurred in 1953, when it amounted to 4,1701000 acre-feet. It
was also in the course of this low year that the lowest annual volume of flow,
1,400,000 acre-feet, was recorded for the 'i-tan River as compared with an
estimated annual avenge of 3,0r0?n,-0 acre-feet for the four-year perio of
record. This indicates that, even subsea-Lent to the op-ration of the dams,
Iranian Sistan received in the dry year of record a ouentity of water over twice
as large as the needs estimated by the Helmand River Delta Commission. The Com-
1 mission estimated the reouirements of the whole of Sistan, to be around 700,000
acre-feet per year, of which about 560,000 acre-feet would be for Iranian Sistan, 1
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From Tab ran
and 140,000 acre-feet for Afghan Sistan. Moreover, the figures for the dry
year 1953 of 1,400,0n0 acre-feet and for the average year of 3,000,000 acre-feet,
are the volumes of water flowing into the Sistan River only and do not take into
account the water flowine into the Parian River,
8. Petween the head of the Sistan distrfeutary and Band-i-Kohak five
diversion canals were seer, each with inverts considerably above the water sur-
face of the Sistan river; these inverts normally would be high and dry except
during periods of floods. The rand-i-Kohak has gates high enough so that when
in operation it is believed that flow during lea; low periods could be diverted
Into these higher level canals. Hence, unless the water level is artificially
raise )- Irarien .astallatiors so that water may enter these high level canals,
the reduction of the flood peaks now being brought -.bout through storage of flood
period flow 1:7 the Shan dams would corresnon 'ingly reduce the water available to
these canals.
I. The r?servoirs have materially reduced the magnitude and length of
flooding in Ira ian 6:1J7:tan. and appreciably increased the low water period
(surreer-fall:, flows.
2. .c=ce of th7, eejuction in floo loos, the extent of flood pastures
or flood lacy:: iri.tion will be reduced.
3. It s that the data as pr- mated in the :any discharge
hydrogranhs are 1,-',enate for comparison of ',?fore and after reservoir operation
on the regi--- of the Sitan 9dver in Iran. Dul'ing the period of record, these
hydrogr)phs inscate that the quantities of pat-?r ra chins. the Sistan Aiver were
in excess or: toe ?stir-ated by the Lel=q1d hiver Delta CoT_mission as being
reouirel Iranoan as an They also indicate that the flow is more evenly
distributer: hot .,',---ughout the year and from y or to year. Such a regulated
floa would /0--P-1- be M0771 beneficial to the irri7-tion of agricultural lands.
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