Fighting a Losing Battle

Diverting water from the Caspian Sea or Sea of Oman to the drought-stricken provinces cannot curb the growing menace of land subsidence so long as extraction from underground water resources does not come to a permanent halt.
Mahdi Moateq, a faculty member at the German Research Centre for Geosciences and a lecturer in the University of Hannover, made the statement via a video conference addressing a panel on “Land Subsidence, Protection and Risks” held at Tehran’s Geological Survey and Mineral Exploration Organization, IRNA reported Sunday.
Moateq said over-extraction from renewable and underground water resources is the main culprit behind land subsidence in cities like Tehran and the northeastern regions where land on average sinks almost by 30 centimeters a year.