Iran's particle pollution partly caused by Turkey's dams: Expert

The professor, known as the 'Father' of desert studies, made the remarks while addressing a group of university students in the southwestern province of Charmahal and Bakhtiari on environmental issue on Sunday.

When a dam is built on a river, most of the water should be transferred to downstream stretch of the river to prevent the region get dried, the expert said adding but what is happening currently is that by building dams in Turkey, water from villages are transferred to cities and this is a wrong policy, Professor Kordavani said.

He noted that Turkey builds dams on Tigris and Euphrates rivers only to meet its own domestic demands but the move has terribly affected the amount of water of the two rivers and became the main cause of Iran's particle pollution problem.

The professor stressed the need to train people to use water in an appropriate way so that to save it for a longer time.

According to dispatches, construction of the Ilısu Dam by Turkey would decrease the volume of water delivered to Tigris and Euphrates in Iraq and would worsen an already dire shortage of water in that country.

The Euphrates and Tigris rivers support at least half of Iraq's annual grain production and provide most of the country's drinking water.

The Ilısu Dam is a centerpiece of the Turkish government's Southeastern Anatolia Project, or GAP, which will eventually include 22 dams and 19 power plants in the southeast part of the country that borders Syria and Iraq.

9191**1394