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Vakhsh River

 
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Vakhsh River
 
 
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The Vakhsh River, also known as the Surkhob (in north-central Tajikistan
Tajikistan

Tajikistan , officially the Republic of Tajikistan , is a mountainous landlocked country in Central Asia. Afghanistan borders to the south, Uzbekistan to the west, Kyrgyzstan to the north, and People's Republic of China to the east....
) and the Kyzyl-Suu (in Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyzstan , officially the Kyrgyz Republic, is a country in Central Asia. Landlocked and mountainous, it is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the southwest and People's Republic of China to the east....
), is a Central Asia
Central Asia

Central Asia is a region of Asia from the Caspian Sea in the west to central China in the east, and from southern Russia in the north to northern India in the south....
n river, and one of the main rivers of the nation of Tajikistan. It is a tributary
Tributary

A tributary is a stream or river which flows into a Mainstem river. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea. Tributaries and the mainstem river serve to drain the surrounding drainage basin of its surface water and groundwater by leading the water out into an ocean or some other large body of water....
 of the Amu Darya
Amu Darya

The Amu Darya is the longest river in Central Asia. Its name is sometimes represented in a single word, Amudarya .Amu is said to have come from the city of Amul, now known as T?rkmenabat....
 river. The names "Surkhob" and "Kyzyl-Suu" both mean "red river" in Persian
Persian language

name=Persian|nativename=|pronunciation=[f??r'si]|image=|caption=Farsi in Perso-Arabic script |states= Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Bahrain....
 and Kyrgyz
Kyrgyz language

Kyrgyz or Kirghiz is a Turkic languages and, together with Russian language, an official language of Kyrgyzstan. It is most closely related to Altay language and more distantly so to Kazakh language....
, respectively.

river rises in the Alay Valley
Alay Valley

The Alay Valley is a broad, dry valley running east-west across most of southern Osh Province, Kyrgyzstan. . It is about 180km east-west and about 40km north-south and 2500-3500m in altitude....
, Kyrgyzstan, where it runs westwards for 262 kilometers; it then flows through Tajikistan for a length of 524 km (325 miles) before joining the Panj River
Panj River

The Panj River also called the Pyandzh River or Piandj River is a tributary of the Amu Darya. The river is 1,125 km long and forms a consideable part of the Afghanistan - Tajikistan border....
 to form the Amu Darya at the border of Tajikistan and Afghanistan
Afghanistan

Afghanistan , officially the Islamic republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country that is located approximately in the center of Asia....
.






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The Vakhsh River, also known as the Surkhob (in north-central Tajikistan
Tajikistan

Tajikistan , officially the Republic of Tajikistan , is a mountainous landlocked country in Central Asia. Afghanistan borders to the south, Uzbekistan to the west, Kyrgyzstan to the north, and People's Republic of China to the east....
) and the Kyzyl-Suu (in Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyzstan , officially the Kyrgyz Republic, is a country in Central Asia. Landlocked and mountainous, it is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the southwest and People's Republic of China to the east....
), is a Central Asia
Central Asia

Central Asia is a region of Asia from the Caspian Sea in the west to central China in the east, and from southern Russia in the north to northern India in the south....
n river, and one of the main rivers of the nation of Tajikistan. It is a tributary
Tributary

A tributary is a stream or river which flows into a Mainstem river. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea. Tributaries and the mainstem river serve to drain the surrounding drainage basin of its surface water and groundwater by leading the water out into an ocean or some other large body of water....
 of the Amu Darya
Amu Darya

The Amu Darya is the longest river in Central Asia. Its name is sometimes represented in a single word, Amudarya .Amu is said to have come from the city of Amul, now known as T?rkmenabat....
 river. The names "Surkhob" and "Kyzyl-Suu" both mean "red river" in Persian
Persian language

name=Persian|nativename=|pronunciation=[f??r'si]|image=|caption=Farsi in Perso-Arabic script |states= Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Bahrain....
 and Kyrgyz
Kyrgyz language

Kyrgyz or Kirghiz is a Turkic languages and, together with Russian language, an official language of Kyrgyzstan. It is most closely related to Altay language and more distantly so to Kazakh language....
, respectively.

Geography

The river rises in the Alay Valley
Alay Valley

The Alay Valley is a broad, dry valley running east-west across most of southern Osh Province, Kyrgyzstan. . It is about 180km east-west and about 40km north-south and 2500-3500m in altitude....
, Kyrgyzstan, where it runs westwards for 262 kilometers; it then flows through Tajikistan for a length of 524 km (325 miles) before joining the Panj River
Panj River

The Panj River also called the Pyandzh River or Piandj River is a tributary of the Amu Darya. The river is 1,125 km long and forms a consideable part of the Afghanistan - Tajikistan border....
 to form the Amu Darya at the border of Tajikistan and Afghanistan
Afghanistan

Afghanistan , officially the Islamic republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country that is located approximately in the center of Asia....
. The average annual discharge of the Vakhsh is 16.9 km³, derived from an average discharge of 536 m³/s. The river, which is fed mostly by melting glacier
Glacier

A glacier is a large, slow-moving mass of ice, formed from compacted layers of snow, that slowly deforms and flows in response to gravity and high pressure....
s, achieves maximum flow during the summer months of July and August. The river flows through very mountainous territory, which frequently restricts the river's flow to narrow channels within deep gorges. The river's catchment area is 39,100 km², whereof 31,200 square kilometers lies within Tajikistan. The largest tributaries of the Vakhsh are the Muksu and the Obihingou. Vakhsh proper starts at the confluence of Obihingou and Surkhob.

Dams



The hydroelectric power
Hydroelectricity

Hydroelectricity is electricity generated by hydropower, i.e., the production of power through use of the gravitational force of falling or flowing water....
 potential of the Vakhsh River has been thoroughly exploited by the Soviet Union
Soviet Union

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a Constitution of the Soviet Union socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991.The name is a translation of the , romanization of Russian Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated ????, SSSR....
 and its successor Tajikistan. There are currently five completed hydroelectric dam
Dam

A dam is a barrier that Reservoirs surface water or underground streams. Dams generally serve the primary purpose of retaining water, while other structures such as floodgates, levees, and Dike are used to manage or prevent water flow into specific land regions....
s along the Vakhsh within Tajikistan, including the world's tallest completed dam, the Nurek
Nurek Dam

The Nurek Dam is a large earth fill dam located at 38.3715 N, 69.3492 E on the Vakhsh River in the central Asian nation of Tajikistan....
. The five dams supply 90% of the country's electric power
Electric power

Electric power is defined as the rate at which electrical energy is transferred by an electric circuit. The SI unit of power is the watt .When electric current flows in a circuit, it can transfer energy to do mechanical work or work ....
 generation capacity. In addition, another four dams are planned or under construction, including the Rogun Dam
Rogun Dam

Rogun Dam is an unfinished dam across the Vakhsh River in southern Tajikistan. Construction began in 1976, however the project was frozen. In February 2007, Russia announced a partnership with Tajikistan to complete the dam....
, which will supersede the Nurek as tallest in the world once it is completed. The existing dams along the Vakhsh make Tajikistan the highest hydroelectric power producer per capita
Per capita

Per capita is a Latin phrase meaning per head with per meaning "through" or "by" and capita meaning "heads." Both words together equate to the phrase "for each head."...
 in the world.

Blockages

The Vakhsh is subject to blockage by landslide
Landslide

File:Guatemala landslide.jpgA landslide is a List of geological phenomena which includes a wide range of ground movement, such as rock falls, deep failure of slopes and shallow debris flows, which can occur in offshore, coastal and onshore environments....
s caused by earthquake
Earthquake

An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes are recorded with a seismometer, also known as a seismograph....
s in the seismically active region. Such landslides pose a significant threat to the river's dams and hydroelectric power generation. In response to an earthquake-caused landslide in 2002, Tajikistan was granted a low-interest loan from the Asian Development Bank
Asian Development Bank

The Asian Development Bank is a Multilateral development bank established in 1966 to promote economic and social development in Asian and Pacific countries through loans and technical assistance....
 to mitigate the potential impact of the landslide.

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