Aras Dam was established over Aras River, placed 35 kilometers west of Jolfa, in Ghezel Gheshlagh. With thousand years of history, Araz Ҫayi has always seen a lot of ups and downs. Bayaties and poetries have been written over centuries describing the river, sometimes for admiring and some other times for scolding it, which remained popular among people of Azerbaijan, especially in mothers’ lullaby. Aras Dam is the result of one of the largest electricity-hydraulic projects in the country which was set up in collaboration with Republic of Azerbaijan in 1970s. The coastal promenade of Aras is placed in the southern coast of the river where thousands of people enjoy its beauties in summers, they ride a boat and fly a kite. Today, based on a local investment, they provide visitors with gazabo traditional restaurants where the traditional bread is baked and local festivals like Araz fishing and kite flying are held. Tourism camping is ready to provides visitors with necessary services by the cultural heritage organization.
Aras Dam Lake is placed over the Aras River, 40 kilometers away from Jolfa, on the border of Iran and the republic of Azerbaijan. The maximum air temperature in summers reachs 40 degrees Celsius and in winters -20 degrees Celsius. Encompassing an area of 15000 hectares, Aras Dam Lake is considered to be the largest lake placed behind a dam in Iran. It is also known as an artificial lake placed 40 kilometers away from Jolfa, in northwestern Iran. The water of this lake is composed of biogenetical material and a lot of drinking water fishes are living here. It provides a proper place for tourism and fishing. The most remarkable among the fish species living here are Common carp, Grass carp, big head fish, Capoeta, Asp and Barbel. The lake is also the largest source of producing aquatics in West Azerbaijan province. A lot of aquatics are supplied to the market in all around the country since the beginning of the fishing season. The lake of Aras Dam is the only source of producing and hunting the precious species of lobster in the country from which over 250 tones of alive lobsters are exported to European countries each year.
The minimum discharge of the river in this region is 339 cubic meters per second and its maximum volume reaches 2240 cubic meters per second. In addition, according to the experts of UNEP, the surrounding areas of Aras River as well as the back of Aras Dam Lake are one of the main habitants of Greater white-fronted goose in all around the world. Out of 10000 Greater white-fronted gooses in the world, 3000 are living in West Azerbaijan province’s wetlands specially in the margins and the lake behind the Aras Dam. It indicates the existence of an appropriate ecosystem for the specie in this province. Aras Dam includes four Kaplan turbines (two on each side, each with a power of eleven megawatts) with a power of forty-four megawatts in sum, turning 187.5 rounds per minute, making a power of twenty-two megawatts as the capacity of production in powerhouse on Iran’s side. the establishment of this storage dam aims at water supply for the agriculture in the region and electricity generation.