Zayandehrud Dam in Isfahan Province currently has 178 million cubic meters of water, which means the dam is only about 13% full, deputy director for protection and exploitation of Isfahan Regional Water Company said.
Despite the low level of water in the dam, “the hydroelectric power plant that is adjacent to the dam has not been shut down yet. However, if the water level decreases by another three meters, the power station will halt operations,” Mahmoud Chitian was quoted as saying by Mehr News Agency.
With a nominal capacity of 1.45 billion cubic meters, Zayandehrud Dam is one of the main dam reservoirs in central Iran.
The primary purpose of the dam is to supply water for drinking, agriculture and industrial sectors to the ancient and world famous tourist city of Isfahan. It also supports a power station that annually produced 60 megawatt hours of electricity.
Its hydroelectric power plant is the only of its kind in Isfahan Province. Electricity generation in the station depends on the water in the dam and in case of acute water shortage, it cannot produce power.
Established over 50 years ago, Zayandehrud Dam is situated on the famous Zayandehrud River, 110 km west of Isfahan City in Chadegan County in the central province.
Located in an arid region of Iran with below minimum precipitation, Isfahan, like many other provinces, has been struggling with drought for years, resulting in the gradual drying up of the Zayandehrud River.
An unprecedented decline in precipitation during the past water year (September 2020-21), which was one of the driest in half a century, caused a steep decline in water stored in hydroelectric dams.
High consumption in the hot summer on the one hand and shortage of hydropower on the other have led to blackouts in some urban areas.
Hydropower is a renewable energy and its production is cleaner compared to other power plants. It constitutes almost 15%, or nearly 12,000 MW of Iran’s total installed power generation capacity of 86,000 MW.
