Despite the good rains since last year, 75% of the country's plains remain dry, director general of water conservation affairs at Iran Water Resources Management Company said.
"The impact of rainfall in the past water year (Sept 2018-August 2019) on many plains across the country (central, eastern and northeastern plateaus) has been meager and major parts of the plains are completely dry,” IRNA quoted Abdollah Fazeli as saying.
Although last year's rainfall was good, it affected a small portion of the aquifers,” Fazeli said.
“Annual water deficit of our underground aquifers is about 5.5 billion cubic meters and last year’s precipitation hardly cut the deficit by 0.5 bcm.”
Underground resources are a key to supplying potable water and meet agro demand, but unchecked consumption and waste are drying up the aquifers, he noted, warning that water is being pumped out much faster than it can be naturally replenished.
Approximately 65% of Iran’s need for potable water comes from underground sources namely wells, the qanat water systems and mineral springs. All these sources are depleting at alarming rates as consumption rises exponentially with farmers paying little heed to appeals for reducing their prohibitive levels of consumption.
A large number of farmers rely largely on groundwater, especially in places where rivers and canals are either at long distances, already tapped out or polluted.
Declining underground water resources have forced 20 million people out of their homes in towns and villages to urban areas over the last two decades in search of work.
There are an estimated 770,000 (authorized and unauthorized) wells in Iran that have become a serious source of concern and are imposing mounting pressure on the water tables that have almost dried up.
Although illegal wells in recent years have been sealed in bulk, very many are still in use. Officials say it will take at least 10 years to shut all the remaining ones.
