Tehran, Iran, March 26
Trend:
Water transfer would damage the Caspian Sea, forests and vegetation of the region since the water transfer route to Semnan Province is running through the Caspian Hyrcanian mixed forests that would destroy the trees and damage environment and nature in north Iran, Ghasem Saedi, member of Iranian parliament's energy commission, told Trend.
The plan to transfer water from the Caspian Sea to Semnan province and other nearby provinces have been discussed three years ago in Iran, however the parliament issued an article, which said that transferring of water is not allowed except with the Department of Environment's permission.
Experts believe implementation of this plan to transfer water from the Caspian Sea to Tehran, North Khorasan provinces and central Iran would threaten the Caspian Sea and causes similar problems to Lake Urmia.
The environmentalists believe water transfer is against the environmental criteria and it would causes environmental crisis.
Previously, a member of Rasht city council, Reza Rasouli, has expressed objection to Caspian Sea water transfer plan to Semnan province.
"The decisions to construct dams and other marine structures were wrong and turned the country's water resources to salt marsh. Lake Urmia is the similar result of such experiments," he said.
Speaking of the Caspian Sea water transfer bill, the official said "we're making a big irreversible mistake".
Meanwhile, environmental expert Delavar Najafi said the Caspian Sea water level is 28 to 30 meters lower than free waters, therefore water transfer is not possible without pumping.
He believes water transfer from Caspian Sea to central Iran and specially Semnan Province is a complete treason, since it would create damages and is not economically and environmentally affordable.
Ghasem Saedi told Trend that in addition to damaging the sea, water transfer from Caspian Sea would harm forests in the region since the transferring route would pass through vast areas of forests and trees, and lead to destruction of nature and environment in north of the country.
"We can not do whatever we desire to the nature, these actions are better to be avoided , the current dust in Khuzestan Province is an example of manipulation of water in the province that lead to dust and is moving to other provinces," he warned.