Modern status and prospects for the development of dam construction in Iran

The above-cited data provide the basis for a number of conclusions: 1. The agriculture of Iran, which is situated in an arid zone, has always experienced an acute need for water; in ancient times, this led to the creation of a number of dams, which were constructed on a high engineering level, even from the modern standpoint, and which have been preserved to this day as active structures. 2. Later on, water-development construction in Iran underwent its greatest development toward the close of the 1950s through the beginning of the 1990s when 24 large-scale hydraulic facilities with various types of dams were constructed over approximately 30 years: 11 earth dams five concrete gravity and buttress dams, and eight concrete arch dams up to 200 m high. 3. The water-development construction program in Iran in the subsequent decade (to 2000) calls for the construction of 25 large-scale hydraulic facilities and, among these, 20 with earth dams and five with concrete arch dams with a height to 200 m. The completion of this program will place Iran among a number of countries with the most vigorous water-power construction.