No new water contracts will be signed with farmers in the north of Khuzestan Province in the remaining spring season and in summer because of the worsening water crisis, director of Khuzestan Water Management and Irrigation Services Company said.
Due to the decrease in rainfall in the current water year (began Sept 2020) and the consequent decline in water stored in dams in Khuzestan, the southwestern region is facing a severe drought.
Since the priority is to provide drinking water to the 4.7 million population, no water will be given to farmers who start growing crops from now until the end of summer, ISNA reported Mohsen Sa’adatfar as saying. The rule does not apply to crops planted in winter and earlier this spring.
Karkheh Dam in the northwest of Khuzestan provides water for agriculture. Water stored in the dam has decreased by 14 meters compared to the same time last year, the public relations manager of the dam said.
“Water level in the dam was 214 meters this time last year. Now it is 200 meters,” Younes Qaderi was quoted as saying by ISNA.
Constructed on Karkheh River in Andimeshk County, the dam can hold 4.46 billion cubic meters of water. Currently it holds 2.63 bcm.
Karkheh Dam is designed to irrigate 320,000 hectares of land and feed a 400-megawatt hydroelectric power plant.
“Rainfall has been very low in the first half of the current water year (Sept 2020-March 2021) and there will be no more rain in the second half. As a result water levels in the dam will plunge further and possibly impact hydropower plants,” Qaderi said. “If water levels fall below 186 meters, the power plant will have to be shut down.”
Dams Half Full
As such, the water deficits are not limited to Khuzestan as almost the entire country of 83 million people is facing an unprecedented crisis to which there is no practical solution other than conservation and ending waste of the rapidly depleting natural resource.
According to the Energy Ministry, water entering dams across the country has fallen by a shocking 40% compared to the last year.
Since the beginning of the current water year, 22.32 bcm of water have entered the dams while the figure last year was 37.35 bcm. Of the total 50.5 bcm capacity dams now hold 29.67 bcm. This time last year, 36.83 bcm of water was stored in the dams. The decline so far is 19% and is expected to fall further with less rainfall, inefficient draught management and climate change.
Since last September, the country recorded 113 mm of rain, which is 43% less than the average in the past 50 years. Since the beginning of spring hardly 4.8 mm of rain has fallen indicating 85.5% decline compared to the average in half a century.
High Consumption
Despite the decrease in precipitation and lower water levels in dams, consumption remains high in big cities such as Tehran.
According to the manager of Tehran Water Control Center, drinking water consumption in Tehran is 240 liters per day per person while the national per capita is 170 liters.
“Tehran residents consume 70 liters more per day than the average national per capita,” Hossein Saraee said.
As temperatures rise water consumption also increases. “At present the 9.25 million population in Tehran City consume 3.2 million cubic meters of water per day and this is expected to reach more than 3.8 mcm/d in summer.”.
