International Rivers Network Berkeley, California www.irn.org
PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release: Thursday, 8 November, 2001 Contact: Patrick McCully (510) 847 0562
UN Warns of "Disaster of Tremendous Proportions" after Bombs Hit Afghan Hydro Plant
Urgent need for safety assessment and remedial action
US bombs have destroyed a hydroelectric plant next to Afghanistan's largest dam, according to UN sources. The London newspaper, The Independent, reports that the dam itself does not appear to have been hit but that the loss of power has incapacitated gates regulating water discharges from the reservoir.
If long-awaited rains arrive and the dam's electric-powered gates cannot be opened there is a risk that the reservoir could overflow. This could in turn cause the dam to burst resulting in what UN officials describe as a "disaster of tremendous proportions". UN officials also fear that further air raids risk destroying the dam.
"If the dam collapses the whole Helmand valley would be flooded, risking the life of tens of thousands of people," states an internal report prepared by the UN's regional coordinator for Southern Afghanistan and made available to The Independent. "It is crucial to have the situation at the Kajaki dam/power plant assessed," says the UN report.
International Rivers Network is alarmed to learn of the situation at the Kajaki dam. "There is an urgent need for the US government to work with the international community to ensure that the safety of Kajaki dam is secured and the power supply to its gates restored," says Patrick McCully, Campaigns Coordinator for International Rivers Network. Emergency evacuation plans also need to be made for downstream communities.
The deliberate or accidental destruction of a dam, like that of a nuclear power plant, can have catastrophic consequences. Targeting dams and nuclear plants is prohibited under a 1977 Protocol to the Geneva Convention "if such attack may cause the release of dangerous forces and consequent severe losses among the civilian population".
The Independent quotes Pakistan sources as saying that a contingent of Arab troops of Osama bin Laden's al-Qa'ida group had been based at a military post close to the Kajaki dam. It is not clear if they were present when the bombing took place, whether the damage to the hydroelectric plant was inflicted deliberately, or whether it was due to inaccurate targeting.
The Independent reports that the 48-year-old dam on the Helmand River is 300ft high, 900ft long, and holds back 1.85 million cubic meters of water in a 32-mile long reservoir. The dam, built by US engineers and equipped with US-built turbines, is reported to have a generating capacity of 33 megawatts.
The Kajaki dam, designed by US engineers and equipped with US-built turbines, provides irrigation water to lands supplying food for around a million people, according to the UN. If this water supply is disrupted due to the cutting of the power supply to the dam's sluice gates there will be further severe damage to the harvest in a region already threatened by food shortages.
The Independent explains that too little water from the dam now would make it impossible to plant winter wheat. Too much water released now would deplete the reservoir, causing the wheat crop to shrivel in the spring. "In addition, in the case of the long-awaited rain arriving, the dam risks bursting without a proper functioning control/regulatory mechanism in place," says the UN report. "Needless to say, the regulatory mechanism is powered by electricity."
The dam provided electricity to around 500,000 people and to several hospitals and industries. The powerlines to the city of Kandahar, 60 miles south-east, were rehabilitated by the Taliban earlier this year after being destroyed during the nation's civil war. Chinese contractors were adding a further 16.5 MW of generating capacity to the dam when the US bombing campaign began.
Kajaki dam has been at the center of a long-running diplomatic dispute between Afghanistan and Iran which lies downstream of the dam. Iran claims that the diversion of water for irrigation at Kajaki deprives a fertile Iranian farming region of water. Iranians living along the Helmand may also be at risk in the event of Kajaki dam collapsing.
Environmentalists say that the dam has contributed to the desiccation of a lake and wetlands ecosystem on the Iranian-Afghani border which provides waterfowl habitat of international significance.
Ends
IRN is a California-based environment and human rights organization which supports the rights of communities facing the impacts of destructive water projects and advocates for sustainable and equitable water and energy management.