Majlis Research Center, the influential research arm of the Iranian Parliament, says in a new report that groundwater resources all over the country are shrinking at such an incredible speed that water tables cannot replenish themselves.
According to the report, Iran is on red alert as overextraction of groundwater resources over the last four decades is taking a heavy toll not only on the farming sector but also on industries, the Energy Ministry's website Paven reported.
Groundwater use peaked in the 1990s and surprisingly, the uptrend has continued unabated, the report said.
Annual water deficit from ground resources in Iran is 143 billion cubic meters that is more than the volume of renewable water resources.
Annual renewable water resources average 105 bcm, of which close to 70 bcm are exploitable.
Renewable water resources are defined as the average annual flow of rivers and recharge of aquifers generated from precipitation.
According to the Energy Ministry data, renewable resources were around 140 bcm in 1999 and embarked on the rapidly descending order ever since. It fell to 135 bcm, 130 bcm and 110 bcm in 2007, 2013 and 2017 respectively.
“Expanding water-intensive industries in parched areas, digging illegal wells, planting water-intensive crops to become self-sufficient at any price, in addition to chronic droughts, are all pushing the water-stressed country to the point of no return,” the report added.
The continuation of critical condition can endanger the country’s security.
Iran's annual water consumption is north of 100 billion cubic meters and its shocking water deficit will not decline unless the excessive withdrawal of water from aquifers in the agriculture sector ends. Tens of thousands of illegal water wells, which have been dug in recent years across the country, must be sealed without fear or favor.
Land Subsidence
Iran Water Industry Federation’s assessments rank the country among the top three with the highest land subsidence rate caused by the substantial decline in groundwater resources.
"It is regrettable that despite all warnings issued by domestic and international research institutes, policymakers still insist on pursuing the poor strategies that have been in place over the last four decades," Reza Hajikarim, a board member of the privately-owned IWIF, said.
The official noted that water-intensive industries, especially steel, are expanding in desert areas like Kashan County in the central Isfahan Province, pointing out that steel mill owners are developing their plants in arid areas by buying dry farmlands.
“In other parched regions like Hamedan Plain, thermal power plants are depleting aquifers as they require massive amounts of water for their cooling towers,” he said.
“When a plain starts to subside, reversing the trend will be very time-consuming and it may take 50 years to avert the disaster.”
Even if water extraction from the region is totally banned, subsidence will not stop and only the speed of sinking will decline.
Referring to a short-term plan carried out to help save some endangered plains in Khorasan Razavi Province, Hajikarim noted that the project was aimed at reducing water extraction in the areas, but it failed to serve the purpose as it did not continue.
Drawing a parallel between the current situation in some plains in Iran and California in the US, he said that before the area could reach a critical point, American water officials started to modify agricultural patterns and the cultivation of water-intensive crops were totally banned to minimize water withdrawal from underground tables.
“They started to tap into reclaimed wastewater resources not only to irrigate their farms but also to provide piped water for citizens,” he said.
Practical Approaches
Hajikarim said none of these practical approaches has ever been adopted in Iran and to add salt to injury, the dry plains are sold to steel producers who need much more water than farming.
The Department of Environment’s statistics show the country’s water scarcity will hit crisis level by 2025, when available renewable water will be less than 1,000 cubic meters per capita, down from 2,000 cubic meters in 1950.
Economic experts have warned that large parts of the water-stressed country will turn into barren desert if those in charge don’t change course and rewrite the centuries-old agricultural policies that are unsustainable.
However, all their pleas and appeals have fallen on deaf ears. How, when and where things will take a turn for the better remains to be seen.
Officials say at least 90% of Iran’s natural water resources have already been depleted to meet domestic needs and relying on natural reserves is now a thing of the past.
Average annual precipitation has also dwindled by 80 bcm over the last 10 years, plunging to the current 340 bcm compared to 420 bcm in 2007.
