VAKHSH
RIVER
![](640px-Vakhsh.jpg)
The
Vakhsh River (highlighted in blue)
Location
:
Country : Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan
Physical characteristics :
Mouth : Amu Darya
• coordinates : 37°06'40 N 68°18'51
E
Length : 786 km (488 mi)
Basin size : 39,100 km2 (15,100 sq mi)
Discharge :
• average : 621 m3/s (21,900 cu ft/s)
Basin features :
Progression : Amu Darya - Aral Sea
The
Vakhsh (River) (Russian and Tajik: Vaxsh), also known as the Surkhob,
in north-central Tajikistan, and the Kyzyl-Suu (Romanized: Qizilsuu),
in Kyrgyzstan, is a Central Asian river, and one of the main rivers
of Tajikistan. It is a tributary of the Amu Darya river.
Geography
:
The river flows through the Pamirs, passing through very mountainous
territory that frequently restricts its flow to narrow channels
within deep gorges. Some of the largest glaciers in Tajikistan,
including the Fedchenko and Abramov glaciers (the former of which
is the longest glacier in the world outside of the polar regions),
drain into the Vakhsh. Its largest tributaries are the Muksu and
the Obikhingou; the Vakhsh proper begins at the confluence of the
Obikhingou and Surkhob rivers.
After
it exits the Pamirs, the Vakhsh passes through the fertile lowlands
of southwest Tajikistan. It ends when it flows into the Panj to
form the Amu Darya, at the border of Tajikistan and Afghanistan.
The Tigrovaya Balka Nature Reserve, which was the last habitat of
the now-extinct Caspian tiger in the former USSR, is located at
the confluence of the Vakhsh and the Panj.
The
catchment area of the Vakhsh is 39,100 km2, of which 31,200 km2
(79.8%) lies within Tajikistan. The river contributes about 25%
of the total flow of the Amu Darya, its parent river. Its average
discharge is 538 m3/s, with an annual discharge of 20.0 km3. However,
since the Vakhsh is fed mostly by melting snow and glaciers, these
flow rates have great seasonal variability between winter and summer.
Measurements at the Nurek Dam indicate that winter flow rates average
around 150 m3/s, whereas flow rates during the summer months can
exceed 1500 m3/s – a tenfold increase.
![](640px-Surkhob.jpg)
Beginning
of Surkhob by connecting Muk-Suu and Kyzyl-Suu
Economic development :
Nurek Reservoir
The
Vakhsh River forms a reservoir behind the Nurek dam
![](nurek.jpg)
Nurek
Reservoir is located in Tajikistan Coordinates 38°19'40 N 69°23'00
E
The
Vakhsh has been intensively developed for human use. Electricity,
aluminum, and cotton are the mainstays of Tajikistan's economy,
and the Vakhsh is involved with all three of these sectors. Hydroelectricity
provides 91% of the country's electricity as of 2005, and 90% of
that total comes from the five completed dams along the Vakhsh,
dominated by the world's second tallest dam, the Nurek. The other
four dams, downstream of Nurek, are Baipaza, Sangtuda 1, Sangtuda
2 and Golovnaya Dams. (These dams make Tajikistan the highest hydroelectric
power producer per capita in the world.) Hydroelectricity powers
the aluminum production at the Tajik Aluminum Company in Tursunzoda,
a major source of Tajikistan's industrial output and export revenue.
As for cotton, Vakhsh water irrigates much of Tajikistan's crop;
about 85% of the water taken from the Vakhsh goes toward irrigation.
Soviet
era :
The leaders of the Soviet Union stressed the importance of developing
the country's under-developed regions, such as the Tajik Soviet
Socialist Republic (which was the predecessor to modern-day, independent
Tajikistan). Not only did Vladimir Lenin’s ideology identify
the decentralization of industry as a way to counter the colonial
exploitation of indigenous peoples, but the USSR had strategic aims
as well, especially in World War II when industry was evacuated
eastward away from the German front. This industrialization would
be fueled by exploiting Tajikistan's enormous hydropower potential.
It
took until the 1950s, however, for dam construction to begin on
the Vakhsh. The Perepadnaya power station, was the first to be commissioned
in 1959. It is situated on a canal off the Golovnaya Dam which was
commissioned in 1963. The giant Nurek dam was constructed between
1961 and 1980. Baipaza Dam was completed in 1983.
To
build transmission lines over the Pamirs would have been prohibitively
expensive, so, in order to take advantage of the electricity produced
by these dams, the Soviet Union built many industries nearby. The
Tajik Aluminum Company plant is a prime example. Other industries
established locally were chemical plants, nitrogen fertilizer factories,
and cotton gins.
The
dams, particularly the reservoirs behind them, were also built with
the purpose of providing water for agriculture. The Soviet Union
promoted cotton farming in the Vakhsh Valley, as well as vineyards
and orchards, and drew water from the Vakhsh for irrigation. The
Vakhsh Valley Canal Project, which expanded farmland along the river's
lower reaches, predated the dams, having been completed in 1933.
In the 1960s, after the reservoirs had been constructed, engineers
dug tunnels through the surrounding mountains to irrigate other
valleys. Water storage in the reservoirs also helped control the
river's flow, so as to provide a more reliable water supply for
downstream users in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.
After
Tajik independence :
Soviet Central Asia had a centrally planned economy in which the
different republics supplied resources to each other at different
times of the year. During the summer, when river flows were greatest,
Tajikistan (located upstream) released water from its reservoirs
on the Vakhsh and exported the hydroelectricity to power irrigation
pumps downstream, in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, along the Amu
Darya. In winter, Tajik dams accumulated water, and the fossil-fuel-rich
downstream nations supplied Tajikistan with oil and gas to compensate
for forgone hydroelectricity generation.
However,
with increasing regional tension post-independence, this system
is breaking down, with no conclusive cooperative arrangement yet.
Fuel deliveries from downstream nations have been getting less reliable
and more expensive, and impoverished Tajikistan cannot adapt by
increasing winter hydroelectric generation since this would jeopardize
irrigation and electricity exports in the summer. This dependence
has caused energy crises in the winters of 2008 and 2009, in which
the capital, Dushanbe, lost power and heating. Heightened nationalism
and border disputes further complicate the search for a solution
to Central Asia's water needs, according to a study conducted by
the International Crisis Group.
Tajikistan
is therefore pursuing a course of action to increase hydroelectric
capacity by building more dams on the Vakhsh, in order to promote
economic growth and move towards energy independence. Another four
dams are planned or under construction, including the Rogun Dam.
The Rogun Dam began construction in Soviet times but remains uncompleted;
now Tajikistan has recommenced the project with financial support
from the Russian Aluminum Company. If constructed to its full planned
height, it will supersede the Nurek as tallest in the world.
However,
this project has caused great controversy. Just as energy dependence
threatens Tajikistan, so water dependence threatens the downstream
nations. For this reason, Uzbekistan is highly critical of the Rogun
Dam, claiming that it would “put it [Tajikistan] firmly in
control of the river”. The World Bank has responded to these
tensions by launching investigations into the social and environmental
impacts of the dam.
Environmental
problems :
Intensive agriculture in the Vakhsh basin has left the river polluted
with fertilizers, pesticides, and salts. Also, chemicals have leached
into groundwater from the heavy industries near the Vakhsh's dams,
which has in turn contaminated surface water. However, ever since
Tajikistan lost their Soviet agricultural subsidies with the breakup
of the Soviet Union, farms have not been able to afford as many
fertilizers or pesticides as before, thus decreasing levels of pollution
in the river. The 2008 financial crisis has further increased poverty,
which in turn has further decreased pollution.
Since
the waters of the Vakhsh eventually flow into the Aral Sea, pollution
in the Vakhsh contributes to eutrophication there.
Climate
change impacts :
The Vakhsh is fed by the glaciers of the Pamirs, one of the world's
most susceptible regions to climate change. Tajikistan as a whole
has experienced a rise in temperatures from between 1.0-1.2 degrees
Celsius between 1940 and 2000, and many glaciers that feed the Vakhsh
have retreated, including the Fedchenko, which is melting at a rate
of 16–20 meters/year. According to Oxfam International, up
to 30% of Tajikistan's glaciers could shrink or disappear completely
by 2050. The reduction in river flow could lower the Vakhsh's hydropower
production, and harm agriculture dependent on its waters for irrigation.
Furthermore, if climate change affects precipitation patterns, it
could cause more floods, landslides, and other natural disasters
in the river valley.
Blockages
:
The Vakhsh is located in a seismically active region, and earthquakes,
in addition to high groundwater levels (especially during the wet
season), cause hundreds of landslides per year. These landslides
occasionally block the river and form landslide dams.
Such
blockages pose a significant threat to the river's dams and hydroelectric
power generation. A large landslide 8 kilometers (5 mi) downstream
from the Baipaza Dam has blocked the river twice (in 1992 and 2002)
ever since this dam opened in 1985. Both blockages were immediately
blasted to clear the river channel, since they threatened to raise
the water level high enough to flood the dam. Such an event could
potentially have serious economic consequences by disrupting power
generation, stopping production at the Tajik Aluminum Company, and
cutting off supplies of drinking and irrigation water for downstream
users. In the worst-case scenario, failure of a landslide dam could
cause catastrophic floods.
Recognizing
these threats, the Asian Development Bank responded to the landslide
of 2002 by granting the government of Tajikistan a low-interest
loan to stabilize the valley slopes and mitigate the potential for
blockages in the future.
Source
:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vakhsh_(river)