ABSTRACT
The Emamzadeh-Jaafar artificial recharge (EJAR) project (50°, 58’N and 30°, 19’E) includes an earth storage/diversion dam (which also acts as sediment trapping pond), a transport and diversion canal, and five recharge basins (RB’s). Water for the project is diverted from the flood water of the Naserabad catchment which is a subcatchment of the Zohreh river in southern Iran. The average infiltration rate (IR) for the storage area has been measured to be 36 cm/hr before construction and for the recharge basins was 5.89 cm/hr. During the 3 years since completion of the project the storage lake was filled 9 times alternatively (The storage volume is 600000 m3) and the RB’s only. Due to this water intake the IR changed to about 0.64 and 4.93 cm/hr (average for five RB’s) respectively. In order to recover the original values of IR, it is recommended to remove the sediments by mechanical means.
