Water Availability Assessment for Integrated River Basin Management Planning in Afghanistan.

Panj‐e‐Amu Basin  in the Upper Panj area (Panj River) 

Prepared by: Fayezurahman “Azizi”

National Hydrologist Specialist, WRD, Ministry

of Energy and Water

M.E: Watershed Design and IFRM

Date: 2016/11/24

International Conference: Asia Pacific Policy Dialogue on Water, Energy and Food Security for Poverty Alleviation in Dryland Regions

Introductionoverview  Total area of 652,000 

Km2 or 65,200,000 ha. arid/semi‐arid climate

Afghanistan is divided to five major basin

Over 80% percent of the population relies directly on the natural resources of the River basins.

four major river basin are state share (Trans‐boundary)

The restructuring of  river basins was started in 2011

The IWRM concept in the river basins is to promote a decentralization of water resource management and water planning into river basin‐level and sub‐basin level management. 

Afghanistan is characterised by its rugged mountainous with snow‐covered peak of high altitude, up to 7,500 meter.

Brief Information of Irrigation, water for drinking in Afghanistan

Sources of Water for Agriculture

87%

8% 4% 1%

Surface WaterKarezSpringWells

Sources of Water for Drinking

40%

9%3%

48%

SurfaceWaterKarez

Spring

Wells

In the normal year 85% of food productionin Afghanistan are produced from irrigatedland,Without supplementary irrigation there isno stable production in the rain fed areas ofthe country.

Categories of irrigation systems

90%

10%

TraditionalsystemsModernsystem

Main River Basins Characteristics                   

River Basin Annual Water Volume in

BCUM

Present UsageBCUM

% Usage

Amu Darya 22.00 5.3 24Harirod-Murghab 3.06 1.3 48

Helmand 9.30 5.4 58Kabul 20.76 5.2 25Northern 1.88 1.88 100

• Total annual renewable volume of water is 75 billion cm• Unfortunately less than 30% of it can be used in the 

country.• Out of 7,9 million ha of arable land only 1.8 million ha can 

get proper water.• From more than 23 thousand MW of the available 

potential of hydroelectric in the country, only 270 MW is installed.

It is important to know/Water Availability of Afghanistan

For the Watershed Design sustainability, development of integrated Water management planningaspects, data collection is the most important factor. Be able to analyze and control flood disaster to reduce the economic damages Be able to allocate water balance of the basin for prospective planning Be able to assess the river basin characteristics and ability Dams Constructions Bridge design ,Chanel ,Irrigations .etc..

Hydro‐Meteorological Networks for Water Balance Assessment 

Main characteristics of River Basins /Afghanistan

1412

41

12 11 10

2320

31

11

15

13

8

55

11

23

0

29

35

21

42

0

14

35

28

8

13

1

33

93

22 22

39

2

48

22

9

3 20

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Amu Darya Kabul (Indus) Helmand Harirud-Murghab Northern Non Drainage Area

Àrea % Irrigated land % Intermittently Cultivated % Rainfed Land % Population % Density (ppskm) River Flow (bcm)

Main Problems and issues Lack of  Water Resources planning throughout the River Basin Environmental degradation 

Extreme flood disaster and erosion problems

Demand for water needs has dramatically increased

Darqad

Darqad

Sheberghan BalkhSamangan

Kunduz

Takhar

The most Vulnerable cities along Amu River

Taloqan River 

Kokcha River

Kunduz River 

Darqad Dashti‐Qala

KaldarHairatan

A O

E D

Dashti‐Qala

Inadequate Water infrastructure and equipment

reduction of ground water, as well as lack of groundwater resource assessments

Lack of economic mechanisms and investments for irrigation, water supply, sanitary systems and hydropower generation. 

Mostly Donors are focused on emergency projects.

Access to drinking water and sanitation.

Avalanches/Snow Slide  

Rainfall Loss with Effective Rainfall Rate & direct runoff coefficient analysisSummary Results

Drainage Area (Sq.km)

Discharge (Mm3)

Precipitation(mm)

Rainfall loss (mm)

Water losses(Mm3)

Effective Rainfall(mm)

Totall 33434.16 10325.19 4897.24 33892.47 14.25Average 1238.30 382.41 181.38 1255.28 0.53

percentage (%) 49.66 67.83 32.17 50.3496800

503.

136

473

300.

237

401

12.8

313

257

467

379

466

144

30

294

202

268

28

165

54

An average of about 32% rainfall losses are showing in this Basin

An average of approximately 50 % water loss

showing  an annual average of around 0.53 mm effective rainfall and a total of  about 14.25 mm 

No. YearFlood

Duration[days]

Basin Rainfall

(mm)

Peak Discharge[

m3/sec]

Base Flow[m3/s

ec]

Direct Runoff [mm]

Runoff Coefficient

1 2009 5/21/2009 7/20/2009 60 25.25 900 261 34.29 1.36

2 2010 5/31/2010 7/24/2010 54 11.01 642 231 58.28 5.29

3 2011 6/7/2011 7/25/2011 48 3 600 291 26.78 8.93

4 2012 6/13/2012 8/8/2012 56 4.89 648 299 43.24 1.26

5 2013 5/18/2013 6/30/2013 43 9.58 564 165 38.15 0.62

Average 52 10.7 670.8 249.4 40.1 3.49

Max. 60 25.3 900 299 58.3 8.93

Min. 43 3 564 165 26.8 0.62

Peak Discharge (Flood Duration)

shows a large different direct runoff coefficient because of very rare rainfall on peak discharge timing in the dry season

Mean Annual Runoff & River Flow Regime analysis of Panj-e-Amu River Basin

01000200030004000500060007000

Pul‐i‐ C

hugha

Pul‐i‐ B

angi

Pul‐i‐ A

lchin

Char Dara

Pul‐i‐ M

astan

Taqcha

 Khana

Near T

aloq

an

Khojaghar

Gerdab

Tangi N

ahrin

Baghlan

Above Kelagai

Doshi

Khen

jan

Pul‐i‐…

Ahangaran

Bamyan

Doab

Dashte ‐i‐…

Pul ‐i‐ Teshkan

Sumdara

Baharak

Near B

aharak

Keshem

Near Jurm

Faiza

bad

Kofab

Taq Archa

Shash Pu

l

Anjuman

Near K

eshe

mMean An

nual Run

off (Mm3)

Hydrological Stations

Mean Annual Runoff Of Panj‐e‐Amu River Basin (2005‐2013)

The mean annual runoff capacity is estimated 40 BCM (Billion Cubic Meter) per year

AWARD World Bank Newdata/WRD

30

35

40

45

50

Total A

nnua

l Run

off(BC

M) Panj‐e‐Amu River Basin ‐Total Annual Runoff

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Parde‐Co

efficient (%

)

Months/2012

River Flow Regime ‐ Hydrograph

Faizabad Khojaghar

Spring

summer

FallWinter

The spring/summer high‐water flow contributes around 79% of  the total annual flow discharged into the Basin.

The Khojaghar data presented 77%while Faizabad covered  about 82%

Needs & RecommendationsWater is vital for: • Economic needs involving agriculture, power generation, and industrial usage .• Sociological needs involving potable (safe) water and sanitation usage • Ecological needs primarily involving fisheries, forestry, and bio‐diversity. • More accurate adequate validation data of the basin and extension of Hydrological &  meteorological networks in upstream are required for the Future water sustainability  and Planning. 

• Strategic strengthening of the country’s flood and Drought early warning system and forecasting

• Development and implementation of flood Risk assessment management at the basin & community level. 

• Improvement of Structure Counter Measurements to reduce Water Related Disasters.

• Dam construction in the river basin to balance water demand for Power ,Agriculture, domestic, environment, industry and feed ground water aquifer.

• Adaptation and mitigation policy in the framework of IWRM can reduce the risk of water stress and water shortage at the basins in considerations on Climate change impact.

• Integrated watershed management should be the priority of the government for water resources development.

• Decentralization and distribution of population based on employment can reduce the risk of water stress.