TEHRAN (IRNA) — Deputy Ministry of Energy for Water and Wastewater Affairs Ghasem Taghizadeh Khamesi at the joint meeting of the water commission on Tuesday said that Iran protests about not receiving its water share from the Helmand River.

The 23^rd joint meeting of the Helmand Water Commission was held in the presence of the officials of the Islamic Republic of Iran and Afghanistan.

Khamesi made the remarks during the joint meeting on Tuesday, calling for Iran’s right to water under the 1973 treaty.

Referring to Iran’s concerns over the construction and filling of the Kamal Khan Dam on Helmand, he said that according to Article 5 of the 1973 Helmand Treaty, Afghanistan should have obtained Iran’s approval to build this dam. He added that Iran believes the dam will have social consequences including migration, agricultural closures, and the development of dust centers.

Iran has been suffering a severe water shortage in its southeastern provinces bordering Afghanistan.

The 1973 Helmand River Treaty is the only agreement that Afghanistan has that specifically addresses water allocations. The Helmand River (spelled Hirmand by Iranians) and Sistan area have been the source of contention since the late 1800s. Various attempts to resolve the disputes were undertaken, including with U.S. assistance to form a fact-finding Helmand River Delta Commission, which developed recommendation in 1951. The 1973 agreement follows those recommendations to supply Iran with an average 22 m³/s, and includes an additional 4 m³/s for “goodwill and brotherly relations”. The Treaty also establishes a new Helmand Commission to administer the provisions of the agreement (Art. VIII). Monthly flow deliveries are specified in Article II of the treaty for “normal water years”, which is defined in Article 1(c) as a year with total flows upstream of Kajaki Dam at Dehrawud that are at least 5661 mln m³ between 1 October and the following 30 September. The Helmand Treaty is flexible in that in low flow years, provisions are made to reduce the flow allocated to Iran in proportion to their measured deviation from a normal year for any given month or months (Art. IV).