The Dashte‐Naz Ground‐Water Barrier and Recharge Projecta

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe danger from salination poses a significant threat to development of ground‐water resources for domestic or irrigation use in near‐coastal environments throughout the world. The Dashte‐Naz farm area near the Caspian Sea in northern Iran is no exception. Large‐scale ground‐water development in this region has been limited to wells south of the Caspian Sea near the base of the Alborz mountains where sediments are coarse and natural recharge high. In the northern regions, however, exploitation of the groundwater resources for agriculture and livestock purposes has proven fruitless with most of the high‐yielding wells turning saline after only several irrigation pumping seasons. The source of the salination comes not from encroachment of Caspian Sea water but rather from sediments saturated with connate or fossil waters. A wide zone of dispersion separates the salinated aquifers from the fresh‐water aquifers nearer the mountains.The Dashte‐Naz ground‐water barrier and recharge project was conceived for purposes of overcoming the problem of exploitation of fresh ground‐water reserves in the vicinity of saline‐water fronts. The project presently under construction is a pilot research project on the practicality of using an injection well barrier for storing water underground in areas immediately adjacent to saline ground‐water reservoirs. The results from this project will be used to design other water‐supply projects in Iran not only