News / Economy

Iran forms water crisis HQs as supplies subside

Saturday, 07 March 2015 3:19 PM [ Last Update: Saturday, 07 March 2015 5:32 PM ]

Iran has formed special headquarters to deal with water crisis in the country.

Iran said on Saturday that it had formed special headquarters to deal with what is feared to be an impending water crisis in the country.

Iran’s Energy Minister Hamid Chitchian said the High Water Council has authorized the establishment of “drought crisis headquarters” across the country, adding that their priority is to look for ways to provide the drinking water in all provinces.

Chitchian said President Hassan Rouhani has approved allocating Rials 12 trillion ($430 million) to the same effect, and that the money will be used to avert a potential water crisis in the country in summer.

He further said several cities including capital Tehran, Kerman, Bandar Abbas, Hamedan and Isfahan are already in dire conditions with regards to adequate supplies of water. Therefore, the minister said, emergency actions are required to prevent crisis in those cities.

Presently, Iran faces several key challenges in the water sector that include rising water demand and shortage, declining groundwater levels, deteriorating water quality, and increasing ecosystem losses.

The country’s Energy Ministry - which is in charge of regulating the water sector - announced also on Saturday that about 60 percent of the reservoirs of major dams are already empty. The Ministry further said there has been a decrease of 16 percent in inflow of water into dam reservoirs from the start of autumn.

Officials blame Iran’s water crisis on the changing climate and frequent droughts. However, they have also warned that careless consumption is already deteriorating the situation.

Experts believe that a proper management of water supplies is what Iran needs to end its water crisis. For example, an efficient mechanism is required to reduce consumption of water resources in agricultural sector – which stands at about 90 percent of total water supplies – and instead allocate a larger share to residential and even industrial sectors.

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