RIVER BANK EROSION AND PROTECTION IN AMU RIVER, AFGHANISTAN

Abstract

Riverbank erosion has progressively affecting more and more people as population increasing over the time in under study area. While they are interconnected with physical phenomena, riverbank erosion and flood has unique consequences over the affected people. The experimental field located in Hayratan, Afghanistan .The Amu River’s total length is 2,400 kilometers (1,500 mi) and its drainage basin totals 534,739 square kilometers (206,464 sq. mi) in area. The river is navigable for over 1,450 kilometers (900 mi). All of the water comes from the high mountains in the south where annual precipitation can be over 1,000 mm (39 inch). In this study area normal quantity of water is 1500m3/sec, maximum quantity of water is 3000m3/sec and length of demolished site is 500m. It has an average annual flow of about 97.4 cubic meters and displaces more than 250 million cubic meters of sediment annually, and drains the Ural Jail and the irrigated lands on the river route. About 1,385,045 square kilometers (534,769 sq mi) of land is drained by the Amu Darya into the Aral Sea endorheic basin. This includes most of Tajikistan, the southwest corner of Kyrgyzstan, the northeast corner of Afghanistan, a long narrow portion of western Turkmenistan and about half of Uzbekistan. About 61% of the drainage lies within Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, while 39% is in Afghanistan.[8] Of the area drained by the Amu Darya, only about 200,000 square kilometers (77,000 sq. mi) actively contribute water to the river. This is because many of the river's major tributaries (especially the Zeravshan River) have been diverted, and much of the river's drainage is dominated by outlying desert and steppe. Several areas in Amu River route are under the risk of washing, destroying the flood and the waters of the Amu River. Bank protection is not an easy task, and the need for expertise, careful studies, and budget over the years. It should be noted that only engineering method cannot be employed, it is necessary to use non-engineering methods such as preventing the cutting down of forests, trees and hills and planting trees and creating forests with the cooperation of the people of the region. Therefore, in order to reduce the negative effects of floods and water drainage, awareness and warning programs should also be considered for those who are on the river route. Building walls using sand pits that can temporarily solve the problem is, of course, very temporary and can only be solved within one to five years, with little money to do this. The construction of a wall with rocks and gabions, which can last for between three and ten years and even longer, cost more for these types of walls because the stone is found in the area and the stone should be taken from distant districts or when the river is low water It is to be used from river rock.