Artificial recharge is seen as an alternative to dam construction and the storing of surface water. Several schemes have been developed over the past 20 years and there are plans for an investment of some US$1bn in such projects in the future. There are some challenges in this respect as the spreading of floodwater to encourage infiltration can result in high potential evaporation losses and so alternative techniques are being used which keep evaporation losses to a minimum. The organisation responsible for recharge projects is the Forest, Rangeland, and Watershed Management Organization of the Ministry of agriculture. The Ministry of Energy has also some projects in this field. There are no deep fossil reserves reported in Iran.