There is a conspicuous absence of an effective strategy on cross-border resources and that is why Iran’s share of transboundary water has reduced substantially, the deputy head of Water and Wastewater Planning Office at the Energy Ministry said.
“Iran's annual water share from cross-border rivers in the north, west and east should be around 13 billion cubic meters. It is less than 9 bcm,” Hedayat Fahmi was quoted as saying by ILNA.
Of the total 9 bcm inflow, close to 6 mcm flows out of Iran and pours into the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman per year, he noted.
Water policies of regional countries namely Turkey, Iraq and Afghanistan have compounded Iran’s water crisis, he said, and added that because of Iran’s ineffective water diplomacy in the past the three neighbors are not abiding by the treaties and memoranda of understanding they signed with Iran.
“Tehran is not pursuing [a robust] water diplomacy at the regional and international level.”
Fahmi went on to say that Iran will have to confront the consequences of the international water crisis within ten years unless it adopts a no-nonsense and coherent policy on shared cross-border resources.
According to Mohammad Hossein Papoli Yazdi, head of the Iranian Association of Geopolitics, Iran has already suffered due to the absence of effective political dialogue on water issues.
“The most significant are ecological problems resulting from Turkey's large-scale damming projects.”
Robust Negotiations
Papoli said if Tehran had embarked on meaningful negotiations with Turkey 40 years ago, when it began building dams over the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, the volume of water entering Iranian territory in Arvandroud (aka Shatt-al-Arab) in southern Khuzestan Province would be twice as much as now.
Desiccation of wetlands in Iraq due to declining water flow from the two major rivers has triggered dust and sand storms in the region hurt Iran's western provinces.
Helmand River that flows from the mountains of central Afghanistan toward the Iran-Turkmenistan border is another bone of contention. Add to that the dispute with Afghanistan over Helmand River.
"In 1972 Iran and Afghanistan signed an agreement on sharing the Hirmand waters that was a huge disadvantage Iran as it cut our water right to less than 10%," he said, complaining that Afghanistan continues to build dams over waters that flow into the country. Papoli, however, did not say why the former government had signed the controversial agreement.
He added that water in the Iran–Turkmenistan Friendship Dam over Helmand will very likely shrink due to the construction of the Salma Dam (Afghan-India Friendship Dam) on the river's upstream.
Last but not least, the Aras border river in the northwest is at risk of pollution from copper mining in Armenia that once again demands timely and dynamic diplomatic moves to prevent a potential disaster.
‘Water Envoys’
Papoli said Iran can and should contribute to a peaceful solution to the water disputes with skillful diplomacy “that apparently does not exist in the vocabulary of our senior officials.”
A department at the Energy Ministry deals with cross-border rivers, but the official called for a special office in the Foreign Ministry and send “water envoys” to neighboring capitals.
Without indulging in tired clichés, he said “the fact of the matter is that Iran is not heading toward a water crisis. It is drowning in it.”
Although most experts do not have any qualms about calling Iran’s dire water situation a worsening crisis, water authorities try to avoid the term. They fear it could adversely reflect on their competency and management. As is the case with most economic sectors, mismanagement has done more than its fair share in making a bad water situation worse.
Water officials have never had a well-planned strategy to tackle the water crisis. As per the Fourth Five-Year Economic Development Plan (2005-09) water consumption was planned to be cut by 25%. Not only did that not happen, consumption shot up 64% during the plan period.
Not long ago (when precipitation was high and population low), annual water consumption reached 40 billion cubic meters. Today, despite the fact that rainfall has decreased substantially, yearly water consumption is close to a prohibitive 100 bcm.
One wonders why Iranian water officials do not tire of parroting plans without looking deep into their recurring failures. A more thought provoking question is why those responsible are not held accountable for their performance or the lack of it.
