[ad_1]
As Iranians scrubbed their homes and hosed their gardens ahead of Persian New Year celebrations, they were told to slash their water use if the country was to avoid total “water bankruptcy”.
Water levels in dams around the capital have plunged and water rationing and power cuts are forecast for the summer as the rain-starved country wilts under a severe drought.
Lakes are disappearing, farmers are struggling and huge sinkholes have appeared in cities as water tables decline.
Students worry about washing, kitchen taps run dry and showers are deemed a luxury.
The managing director of Tehran’s Water and Sewage Department said last week that reserves in key dams supplying nearly all the city’s drinking water have dropped to their lowest levels on record, just 5 per cent of capacity.
Ahead of New Year festivities starting on March 20, Mohsen Ardakani urged residents to cut water usage by at least 20 per cent.
“This is no longer a choice or an option — it’s a necessity to help get us through the difficult times,” he said.
Local media have broadcast images of a near-empty Amir Kabir dam (6 per cent full) and the Latian dam (10 per cent full) in the Alborz mountains north of Tehran. Rainfall in the capital is down 17 per cent from last year, and stands 42 per cent below the long-term average.
“They are saying on TV that there may not be any water left for us tomorrow – I go to bed every night worrying about what this situation is doing to the mental and physical health of my loved ones,” said a 43-year-old clothing designer from Tehran, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of official reprisal.
“My father is afraid to take showers and my mother is afraid to drink water with the medicine she needs for her kidney problem. They say they want to save the water for the young generation to use and survive,” she said.
Kaveh Madani, director of the UN University Institute for Water, Environment, and Health (UNU-INWEH) and a former deputy head of Iran’s Department of Environment, said the country was experiencing “water bankruptcy”.
“
All the government does is dig deeper wells. It is extremely difficult to reduce agricultural activity unless the government can provide alternative employment opportunities for these farmers.
Mohsen Mesgaran, assistant professor, University of California, Davis
“If water resources are viewed as assets – surface water as a checking account and groundwater as savings – Iran has depleted its reserves, leaving the public with a situation equal to an overdrawn bank account,” said Madani.
“Now it’s spreading to energy and other parts of the economy,” he told Context, referring to the nation’s electricity, natural gas and petroleum shortages.
Farmers suffer
At a Tehran Council meeting last week, President Masoud Pezeshkian said rapid urban expansion made it impossible to sustain current consumption levels for the 19 million people who live in the capital and surrounding areas.
“Scientists and experts need to sit down together and solve the city’s water problems,” Pezeshkian said.
According to Iran’s National Water Information and Data Office, water flow to dam reservoirs across the country is down 28 per cent from last year. The storage levels of some key dams in 10 provinces have dropped to less than 15 per cent of capacity.
[ad_2]
Source link
