IRANIAN WATER SHORTAGE: WATER FAMINE IMMINENT

Written by Michael Thervil

IRANIAN WATER SHORTAGE: WATER FAMINE IMMINENT | KARAJ RESERVIOR IRAN

[Iranian water shortage] Iranian officials reported that the country may experience a water shortage by the end of the year if much needed rain does fall by the end of the year. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian stated to the Press that Tehran may have to be evacuated if the drought doesn’t end. Roughly 10 million people rely on Tehran’s water supply lines. According to the historical record, rainfall in Tehran is the lowest it’s ever been in decades. It was reported that the residents of Tehran utilize an estimated 3 million cubic meters of water per day.

With the main water dam on the Karaj River, the Amir Kabir currently holds 14million cubic meters, that’s an exponential decrease from the 86 million cubic meters it held last year. But with the current water volume, Iranian officials estimate that there's only enough water for the next two weeks. To conserve the waste of water, Iran's second largest city where its dam’s water volume has fallen under 3%, Mashhad which lies in the northeast, has roughly 4 million Iranians and has implemented water shut offs at night to tackle the water shortage. How sustainable this method will be in the long term is currently unknown.

Drilling into how dire the situation is in Mashhad, Chief Executive of Iran's water company Hossein Esmaeilian stated:

“[water] consumption in the city has reached about 8,000 liters per second, of which about 1,000 to 1,500 liters per second is supplied from the dams”.

Out of the five major dams in Tehran, one is already empty with a second one nearly empty holding a meager 2% water volume. But on a national level, out of 19 of its largest dams, roughly 10% of them have run dry. With 62% of Iran water supply being underground and nearly tapped out, this water crisis in Iran adversely impacts everything from agriculture to sanitation and there seems to be no relief in sight.