Underground Water Extraction Pushing Isfahan Over the Edge

Underground water resources in the parched Isfahan Province are disappearing by 3.6 billion cubic meters per annum, head of the Water Conservation Department of the provincial water company said.
“Of the total annual extraction, 3.3 bcm is taken out from 41,000 authorized wells and the rest from 21,000 illegal wells,” Mehdi Mirbaqeri complained, IRNA reported.
Almost 7,000 unauthorized wells have been sealed since 2005 which helped save 215 million cubic meters of water a year in the dry central region, he noted.
More than 1,200 illegal wells were sealed in the past 12 months, but the water company is apparently fighting a losing battle as the province is caught in a vicious cycle of worsening water deficits.