Coll 29/40 'Seistan: sale of consulate land' [‎8r] (15/443)

7 ®
b
1940 was a year of much less rainfall, but even 30
there was enough water m the Nurab to breech the
emoankfiiQnt near ^abul and v ery nearly to aestroy the new
wood bridge; but in 1940 there were no corresponding
Hoods in the Hussainki canals. I taK© it that the"
explanation of this is that the bed of the Hud-i-^eiatari
(Nurab) was deepened by scouring opposite where the
huaeainki canals take off. This is in accordance with the
procedure of the river in taking q new channel outlined
in the irrigation Report 7olume I Chapter II page 15.
To summarize, it appears that the mouth of the
■?ud-i-Parian channel has been considerably raised, that
a bar is forming across it where the Nurato takes off, and
that the bed of the latter stream was deepened by scouring
during the floods of 1959. All these factors indicate
the likelihood of a change in the course of the Helmand
in the near future.
(1) As the JMurab stream xi as it exists at present is act
ntot shown on the survey of India maps it is necessary to
recount it in some detail. It takes ofi at dand-i-Huhak
where its width is about equal to that of the idslmand
and is at least 3 times greater than it was in 1872(lS
It then follows the Hud-i-Seistan as martced in the map
pest Kimmak, Kala-i-Nau, Dehsokhta, laft Dashtak,
ruhammedabad and hahramabad to discharge by a delta
stretching from Afzalabad to l\iasarabad. (The village
of Nasarabad Sayadan which lies in this delta, was
washed away in 1939). The Nurau is bridged about 4
miles south of Zabul a mile or so above the head of
the delta. Wear Aimmak a small branch takes off which
only fills in flood time. It idows north of Jazinak
and the sand hill area to the west of that village and
joins the mam stream J mile north of Bahramabad. The
Nurab has been in existence since the last war when the
iast Persian Cordon constructed a pontoon bridge over it .
(2) Of the streams flowing North from Kuhak the
Ciksnr has silted up until it is little more than
a ditch. Most of the irrigation water for the. north
of the Mi£an- Fangi is carried by the hsla-i-Lakshak
which runs into the Shela-i-Maliki. This is only
is nothing at all on the ground to correspond to the
area marked blue in the map. This area is not now
normally flooded even at the height of the spring floods.
(3) it has been ascertained by local enquiry that
the amount of water flowing north (i.e. in the Siksar,
Shela-i - laliki, and Pariun) was much greater in 1938
than m 194C and that the water in the Nurab was con
siderably less in 1938 than in 1940. (In 1939, the
year of the floods, all channels filled and over-flowed
their bnnks). This would seem to indicate that the Hal-
mand is in process of abandoning its northward flowing
channels for the Nurab. It may~oe mentioned that the"
fall from the Bandi- 1 -/vuhak to Af zalabad (i .b. along
the Nurab) is more than 2 foot per mile, whereas that
from the Band to Tappa-i-Aaakha (i.e. along the
l^foot per mi le . I have n ot the
some 20 yards wid
is some 60 yards