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.

2. Afghanistan River Basins

3. 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)

5. Uses of Water
• Agriculture
• Industrial
• Domestic
• Transportation

6. 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

7. 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

9. 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

12. 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

13. 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

15. 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

16. 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)

17. 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

18. 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

19. 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

20. 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

21. 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

22. 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

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