With the onset of summer heat, Tehran is eagerly awaiting the “hot” protests over water shortages and the dam crisis, and the arrival of “water bankruptcy” in some parts of the country.
The water levels in the Tehran and Ahvaz dams fell by 30 percent and 64 percent, respectively, and Iranian media reported that the water situation in the capital was “too alarming”, noting that the country was suffering from water shortages.
According to the Tehran Water and Sewerage Company, more than 76% of water consumption is from renewable water sources, which is decreasing every day.
Mohammad Shahriari, Director General of the Water and Electricity Office of the Tehran Regional Water Company, in an interview with state television, emphasized: It is not possible to supply agricultural water downstream of the dams.
The warnings are accompanied by security concerns, as water shortages were one of the drivers of widespread protests in the country last summer.
Iran is facing a high level of drought, to the point that some densely populated plains and parts of the central plateau and even parts of the capital have undergone demographic change as a result of mass migration.
Abbas Sadrianfar, Managing Director of Khuzestan Water and Electricity in Ahvaz, told ISNA: “We are facing drought for the second year in a row and 64% of the useful volume of Khuzestan dam reservoirs is empty.”
Regarding the supply of summer water, he explained: The amount of water resources available and planned for the summer is limited compared to normal conditions.
According to Hamidreza Mahboubfar, a member of the Association for Environmental Hazards and Sustainable Development, 5,000 villages lack water resources and 7,000 villages are supplied with water by tanker.
Nik Ahang Kowsar, an Iranian journalist specializing in water, believes that Iran is facing a major crisis under the mismanagement of the water case.
For example, he said: “Groundwater depletion has led to a sharp decline in reserves and also dams are not in good condition due to low rainfall, and if water consumption is not reduced, some dams are not in good condition.” Can supply water.
“Water shortages can lead to protests, problems for farmers, rising unemployment and poverty, and increased migration from rural to urban areas,” Nick Ahang continues.
The Iranian journalist warns of social conflicts and the state of war: the continuation of water tensions can begin with limited civil protests and, as suffering increases, lead to civil strife and cross-border war.
Foreign policy is another key to the crisis, as Ahang believes that Iran “will have difficulty managing its water resources until it can establish rational relations with its neighbors,” citing the Helmand River crisis, for example. Afghanistan, Little Zab and Sirvan falling to Iraq and Aras in Turkey.
While Iranian Foreign Minister Amir Abdullahian expressed dissatisfaction with Turkey’s construction of dams on rivers between the two countries during a parliamentary session, a water crisis is looming between Iran and Turkey.
He also criticized the Taliban government, saying “we are not satisfied with its policy on the Helmand River” and that with the release of part of the Kamal Khan Dam in Afghanistan, “a small part” of its waters reached this dam. ایران.
In Iraq, the government announced the filing of a lawsuit against Iran in which Iraqi Minister of Water Resources Mehdi Rashid al-Hamdani accused Iran of completely cutting off its water supply.
Source: Lebanon Debate
