Engineer Farhangi, who is one of the country’s most seasoned experts, has some 30 years of experience in work related to the development of the country’s water resources. He has also supervised various projects in that respect.
Previously, he was the former secretary-general of the National Committee on Large Dams for 13 years. During 1999-2001, he was the vice president of the International Commission on Large Dams (ICOLD) for Asian Affairs and head of the Asian and Oceania littoral states. Moreover, he was a member of ICOLD’s technical consultants committee and he also headed the Committee on Public Awareness and Education (which outlines ICOLD’s charter).
Dr Farhangi is the author of three important books entitled, “A look at Iran’s dams, past, present and future”, “Contemporary Dam building in Iran”, and “Water melody in the passage of time: A Review of Hydro Structures of Iran From the Ancient Era to Present Time”. They have been written in Farsi and translated into English. His third book was chosen as the book of the year in the field of civil engineering during the 23rd Year Book ceremony and he was awarded a plaque of honour by the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance.
Engineer Farhangi is fluent in English, French and German. Considering that he has written many articles in various publications such as the scientific and technical bulletin, which was published by the water commission of the country’s Scientific Research Council, he is also a journalist.

The following is our interview with this engineer.
Engineer Farhangi, when did you start your work at the Energy Ministry? When did you become involved in the dam construction industry?
On the whole, I can divide my career into three phases. The first phase was before the Islamic revolution when I was employed by the French Satcoope Company. During that time, the Toroq and Kardeh, Jiroft, Sefidrud, and Minab dams were constructed.
During the second phase, I was employed by the Mahab Qods Company for 13 years. I was deputy secretary of the National Symposium and during that time, 60 seminars, symposiums and conferences were held.
During the third phase between 1999-2001, I was appointed as the secretary-general of ICOLD’s Asian Big Dams and vice president of ICOLD.
What is your most important memory of your career?
During my 34 year career, I have had many good and bad times. The best and sweetest memory is from when I was deputy head of ICOLD for three years. During that time I was proud of trying to introduce our country’s rich culture to the whole world.
Which main feature of your book “Water Melody in the Passage of Time” resulted in it being chosen as the book of the year?
Considering that an ICOLD conference was due to be held in Iran, it was very necessary to introduce our country’s potentials to the 84 participating countries. It can be said that this book was a written podium which contained various documents and 85 reference sources, and introduced our country’s valuable resources very well. I used this name for the book because when one passes through a dessert in Iran, he can see various water storage tanks and ice-houses and hear the sound of water in the storage tanks. Many dam-construction experts have thanked me for giving this book this title.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Energy and the Culture and Islamic Guidance Ministries for helping me to receive a plaque of honour during the inauguration ceremony of the Energy Ministry’s Science, Document Information Centre.
I deem it necessary to ask various officials of the country to try and spread the culture of encouragement in the country so that those who are active in various sectors are more encouraged.
What is Iran’s global position as far as water structures are concerned?
This issue can be studied from two angles. One is the age of the structure and the other is the structure itself and the techniques used to build it.
As far as age is concerned, our country has some of the world’s oldest water structures. The existence of qanats and underground water channels, which are some of the oldest water structures, confirm the fact that these methods were commonplace in Iran.
The Gonabad qanat, which is one of the oldest qanats, expands for 127 km. The Persepolis structures date back to 2500 years ago. The Shushtar water mill, whose age has not been determined yet, is to be registered as a human heritage.
The Choqazanbil temple dates back to 3300 years ago. Water comes from the hills and is physically discharged before it enters the temple from 8 chambers. The interesting question is that how did people transfer water and physically discharge it before allowing pure and clean water to pass through the chambers, some 3300 years ago.
As far as dam construction is concerned, America is one of the countries which has some of the world’s most developed and advanced dams. However, China’s Three Gorges Dam is not only one of the world’s seven wonders in dam construction, but also it is a masterpiece as far as dam construction is concerned.
According to ICOLD statistics published a few years ago, Iran’s dam construction industry ranks fourth in the world (in order America, China, Turkey and Iran).
What factors resulted in Iran attaining this position?
Our country is not only very broad, but also it has variable weather conditions. On the whole, the average amount of precipitation in our country is 250 mm. However, this isn’t the case all over the country and in many parts the amount of precipitation is less than this. Our country has always been in need of water and this is why our country’s people have paid attention to the construction of water structures since a very long time ago.
What kind of a management would you advise to the youth?
In comparison to the 19th century and the end of the 20th century, currently world progress has increased drastically due to the existence and spread of vast communication and computer networks.
In a progressive world, society pays attention to the experienced people who reach their middle ages and are physically healthy, and these people usually hold important positions. Unfortunately, in our country these middle-aged people reach their retirement age and this doesn’t create a good feeling for them. I would like to take the opportunity and propose that instead of using the word “retired” a better word such as veterans is used. This is because after gaining the necessary experiences, these people are ready to use these experiences. I would like to stress that the experience of the veterans and the energy of the youth has the best output.
What is your evaluation of the status of our country’s technical and engineering services exports?
The experiences which our country has gained from the construction of dozens of dams under not very good circumstances which were intertwined with issues such as war or sanctions, the construction of dams in difficult passages, and the construction of various dams, especially concrete and rock-fill dams, are very valuable. It demonstrates a national determination and will which enjoys the spiritual support created by the continuous and round the clock endeavours of the Energy Ministry staff, and the country’s hard-working and honourable experts, technicians and workers. It is very important to invest in propagating the capabilities of Iranian experts and this will only be possible through the holding of various international seminars and conferences.

19
Building a Solar House

A project for the construction of a solar house whose energy resources including electrical and heat is produced with the use of solar energy is being carried out at Zanjan University with a three year outlook.
Engineer Parvizi, one of the experts involved in the project, said: All of the solar house’s electric and heating equipment run on solar energy. With the operation of this project, which enjoys the support of the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology, we hope to take a concrete step toward the development of solar research at Zanjan University.
He said that the manufacture of solar refrigerators were some of the other projects being carried out in the field of solar energy and added: “The project for the manufacture of solar refrigerators, which run on solar energy during the day and on reserved solar energy during the night, has been completed. It has been entered into the Kharazmi Festival as a new project.”
Parvizi said that research was being carried out on the manufacture of solar stoves and stressed: “These stoves can be used and installed in public parks in order to give easy and cheap access to fuel. They also stop the destruction of the parks’ trees and vegetation.”
This young inventor continued by referring to the solar furnace project and said: “Another project being carried out in the field of solar energy is the solar furnace. These furnaces have many applications in the molten metal industries. Outside Iran, these projects have been successful up to a temperature of 1500 degrees Celsius. However, in Iran this figure stands at 600-700 degrees Celsius.
Parvizi also referred to the manufacture of water treatment machines and said: “A water treatment system has been designed and built in Iran. However, these systems are not under mass production yet because we are trying to expand this project.”
The engineer said that he was also active in the field of the biogas in order to develop green energies and said: “Biogas or swamp gas exist naturally in marshes and swamps. In villages and urban areas biogas can be used as fuel after it is produced with the use of manure, plants and fats.
Referring to the centres sponsoring his projects, Parvizi said: “Currently, Zanjan University’s Technology Units Development Centre is the only centre supporting these projects. However, the Governorate-General’s Office, Environment Protection Organization and the Industries Organization, have pledged their support and cooperation if the trend of positive work continues.”
Parvizi referred to the support given by Zanjan University’s Development Centre and said: “Following the inauguration of this centre and considering the reports which have been given to the centre regarding the projects, this centre will pay 3.5 million tomans and if work progresses, it will pay a further 25 million Rials over a period of at least three years.”

Reporter : mehdi akbarsefat

َApproved by : Story Id 28

Create date : 19 Feb 2008 14:55

Id : 2121

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