Iran is one of the countries hardest hit by climate change and also faces a severe water crisis caused by poor water governance. The situation is becoming more serious by the day. In less than a year, the country has experienced deadly flash floods, droughts that destroyed crops, dust storms, and temperatures exceeding 50 degrees Celsius in some places. Dust storms in late June 2023 hospitalized approximately 1,200 people and killed one. Temperatures have risen so high that labor unions have begun calling for a halt to daytime work.
Drought directly or indirectly affects everything from agriculture and livestock farming to heavy industry, food security, and public health. The provision of drinking water is among the principal problems. Climate change, water misuse, and poor governance have also left Iran facing a serious crisis in renewable water resources. In his statements, Ahad Vazifeh, head of the National Center for Climate and Drought Crisis Management under the National Meteorological Organization, said every region faced a drinking-water supply crisis, with conditions particularly serious in eastern Iran and parts of the north. Rainfall in Razavi Khorasan, he said, was 53 percent below the previous year’s level, while Kerman and Sistan and Baluchestan had seen a 48 percent decline. Tehran’s rainfall had fallen by more than 40 percent, placing the capital’s water reserves on alert. He also said supplying drinking water to some major cities, including Mashhad, would not be possible. According to the government, 17.6 percent of Iran’s rural population still lacks access to drinking water. The Meteorological Organization states that 97 percent of the country is experiencing varying degrees of drought. As rainfall declines, experts warn that a water war could erupt and people could turn against one another to secure access to existing supplies. The World Bank also identifies Iran as one of the twenty countries with the lowest annual rainfall worldwide.
Despite explanations centered on climate, some experts argue that Iran alone is responsible for its “water bankruptcy.” They attribute the supply problem to inadequate planning and using “more than nature provides.” In a statement, Mohsen Naseri, a University of Tehran faculty member and head of the climate change working group at the Climate Change and Environment Think Tank affiliated with the Iranian Academy of Sciences, emphasized the impact of renewable-water use and the seriousness of the problem. According to Naseri, no more than 20 percent of renewable water resources should be used to maintain their stability and continuity. In Iran, however, the figure reaches 80 percent. This causes sinkholes to form, wetlands to dry up, and lakes to recede and disappear. Projections suggest that rising temperatures will reduce surface runoff in every water basin by 2030, causing severe droughts and floods. Naseri also points to a public illusion: a little rain dispels concern about drought, creating the mistaken impression that dams have filled and the drought is over. For years, he says, people have believed the country is so wealthy that digging just one meter into the ground would reveal oil and valuable mineral deposits. This belief is shared by officials as well as the public. It must be abandoned, and planning must proceed without succumbing to the illusion.
Iran’s water security is plainly at risk. Beginning in the spring, academics and some officials issued successive statements on the subject, while the press published extensively to reassure the public. The current government is also working intensively to find a solution before the problem spreads nationwide. Yet if drinking-water supply difficulties, currently concentrated in rural areas and particular localities, spread across the country, their psychological impact on society will be as destructive as that of other major security issues.
This article was first published by the Center for Iranian Studies (İRAM) on July 31, 2023.
Link: https://www.iramcenter.org/iranda-su-arzindaki-sorunlar-2403