Vakhsh

an urban-type settlement and the administrative center of Vakhsh Raion, Tadzhik SSR, located in the Vakhsh valley near the Perepadnaia railroad station. Population, 9,100 (1968). The Vakhsh irrigation system is controlled from Vakhsh.

a river in the Tadzhik SSR, right tributary of the Amu Darya. Length, 524 km; basin area, 39,100 sq km, primarily situated within the bounds of the Pamiro-Altai mountain system. The Vakhsh is formed by the merger of the Kyzylsu and Muksu rivers, and in the west it is called the Surkhob. After being joined from the left by the Obikhingou River (from whose estuary it receives the name Vakhsh), it turns to the southwest. The Vakhsh flows primarily through a narrow, V-shaped gorge; at a distance of 170 km from its mouth the river comes out into the Vakhsh Valley, where it divides into branches. The river is fed by glaciers and snow, and, to a lesser extent, by rain. Its high-water period extends from May through September. The average discharge is 660 cu m per sec; the greatest (in July) amounts to 3,120 cu m per sec, and the least (in February) is 130 cu m per sec. The waters of the Vakhsh are characterized by a high degree of muddiness (4.16 kg per cu m).

The Golovnaia Hydroelectric Power Plant is on the Vakhsh River; in 1971 the Nurek Hydroelectric Power Plant was under construction (2.7 million kilowatts). The river’s waters are used extensively for irrigation (for example, the Vakhsh and Shuroabad canals). In its lower reaches the river is navigable. Situated on the Vakhsh River are the cities of Nurek, Kurgan-Tiube (in the valley), and Kalininabad.