The lack of comprehensive studies on cross-border water resources is striking, secretary for economic and financial affairs in the National Committee of Big Dams said.
“The Energy Ministry has recently embarked on extensive research projects into trans-boundary rivers but there is still a long way to go to cover all shared water resources,” Mohammad Ebrahim Raeisi was also quoted as saying by ILNA.
Tehran needs to pursue a more robust water diplomacy at the regional and international level, he added.
Lack of such a strategy can explain why Iran’s share of transboundary water is reducing.
“Iran's annual water share from cross-border rivers in the north, west and east should be around 13 billion cubic meters, but it is less than 9 bcm.
Of the total 9 bcm inflow, close to 6 mcm flow out of Iran and pour into the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman annually,” the official said.
Water diplomacy is the use of diplomatic instruments to existing or emerging disagreements and conflicts over shared water resources with the aim of solving or mitigating those for the sake of cooperation, regional stability and peace.
“Water diplomacy-based negotiations over cross-border resources should not just be focused on water issues as linking such talks to political economy and shared elements in cultural and historical backgrounds has proved to be more fruitful,” he said.
“Water policies of regional countries, namely Turkey, Iraq and Afghanistan, have compounded Iran’s water crisis.”
Raeisi noted that because of Iran’s ineffective water diplomacy in the past, the three neighbors, including Iraq, are not abiding by the treaties and memoranda of understanding they had signed with Iran.
Coherent Policy
According to Mohammad Hossein Papoli-Yazdi, the head of Iranian Association of Geopolitics, Iran will have to confront the consequences of the international water crisis within 10 years unless it adopts a no-nonsense and coherent policy on shared cross-border resources.
Iran has already suffered due to the absence of effective political dialogue on water issues.
“Ecological problems resulting from Turkey's large-scale damming projects are the most significant,” he added.
Papoli said if Tehran had embarked on meaningful negotiations with Turkey 40 years ago, when it began building dams over the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, the volume of water entering Iranian territory in Arvandroud (aka Shatt-al-Arab) in southern Khuzestan Province would be twice as much as now.
Desiccation of wetlands in Iraq due to declining water flow from the two major rivers has triggered dust and sand storms in the region, which afflict Iran's western provinces.
Helmand River that flows from the mountains of central Afghanistan toward the Iran-Turkmenistan border is another bone of contention. Add to that the dispute with Afghanistan over Helmand River.
"In 1972, Iran and Afghanistan signed an agreement on sharing Hirmand waters that was a huge disadvantage for Iran, as it cut our water rights to less than 10%," he said, complaining that Afghanistan continues to build dams over waters that flow into the country.
Papoli, however, did not say why the former government had signed the controversial agreement.
He added that water in the Iran–Turkmenistan Friendship Dam over Helmand will very likely shrink due to the construction of the Salma Dam (Afghan-India Friendship Dam) on the river's upstream.
Last but not least, the Aras border river in the northwest is at risk of pollution from copper mining in Armenia that also demands timely and dynamic diplomatic moves to prevent a potential disaster.
Peaceful Solutions
Papoli-Yazdi said Iran should contribute peaceful solutions to the water disputes with skillful diplomacy “that apparently does not exist in the vocabulary of our senior officials”.
A department at the Energy Ministry deals with cross-border rivers, but the official called for establishing a special office in the Foreign Ministry and sending “water envoys” to neighboring capitals.
Without mincing words, the official said, “Iran is not heading toward a water crisis, but is drowning in it.”
Although most experts do not have any qualms about calling Iran’s dire water situation a worsening crisis, water authorities try to avoid the term. They fear it could adversely reflect on their competency and management.
As is the case with most economic sectors, mismanagement has made a bad water situation worse.
Water officials have never had a well-planned strategy to tackle the water crisis. As per the Fourth Five-Year Economic Development Plan (2005-09), water consumption was planned to be cut by 25%. Not only did that not happen, consumption shot up by 64% during the plan period.
