The water stored in Karkheh Dam in Khuzestan Province is 1.3 billion cubic meters less than the amount in the dam at this time of last year and Karoun Dam water storage has declined by 1 billion cubic meters, which shows the critical condition of water reserves in the southwestern province, managing director of the provincial water and power organization said.
Considering the current decline in rainfall, prevailing drought and in order to tackle water shortage, Farhad Izadjou added that the cultivation of water-intensive crops such as paddy and corn is banned in Khuzestan next summer, IRNA reported.
“The farmers of the province should think about cultivating alternative crops until the water shortage and drought are over,” he added.
Referring to a number of villagers located near Karkheh River using water for drinking purposes, Izadjou asked Khuzestan Water and Wastewater Company to take measures to provide them with sustainable piped water, because it is likely that next summer the downstream areas of the river could dry up.
“Drinking water for 52% of Khuzestan population is supplied from Karkheh River, so sustainable supply of drinking water is our first priority, followed by water supply to farming,” he said.
Agricultural and environmental experts have been urging the government for years to restrict rice farming to the water-rich provinces of Gilan and Mazandaran, home to a majority of Iran’s paddy fields, and ban the activity in the rest of Iran.
Apart from the two northern provinces, rice is currently cultivated in Khuzestan, Isfahan, Fars, Kohgilouyeh-Boyerahmad, Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari, Ilam, Qazvin, Lorestan, Zanjan, Sistan-Baluchestan, Kurdestan, Ardabil, East Azarbaijan and North Khorasan. Most of these provinces are facing an acute water shortage.
Currently, about 85% of the capacity of dams in Khuzestan are empty. Since the beginning of the current water year (started Sept. 23, 2021), only 15% of the capacity of the dams in the southwestern province have been filled and close to 2 billion cubic meters are stored in the reservoirs.
The reduction in the level of water in dams has stopped hydropower generation in the province.
Karkheh hydroelectric power plant has gone off the grid as a result of the water shortage. The dam, which overflowed two years ago due to torrential and unprecedented rainfall, is now half empty and has difficulty supplying water not only for drinking but also for power generation.
Other hydroelectric power plants, including Karoun 1, Karoun 3, Karoun 4 and Masjed Soleyman, have already gone off the grid because of water scarcity.
The decline in precipitation in the previous water year has worsened the drought facing the country for years, which consequently caused water stress.
*** Tehran Dams
There are currently 310 million cubic meters of water stored in the dams of Tehran Province, which shows a decline of about 257 mcm compared to this time of last year when the dams held 566 mcm of water, managing director of the provincial Regional Water Company said.
“Since the beginning of the current water year, more than 112 mm of rainfall have been registered in Tehran Province, which shows a decline of 36% compared with the same period of last year,” Behzad Parsa was quoted as saying by the Energy Ministry’s news portal Paven.
“In the past five months, about 222.9 mcm of water have entered the five dams of the capital, which shows a 33% decrease compared with the same period of last year when dams had an inflow of more than 332 mcm,” he added.
The five dams supplying Tehran include Taleqan, Latyan, Mamlou, Amir Kabir and Lar. Together they can hold 2 billion cubic meters of water. However, at present, only 15% of their capacity are full.
Iran is located in an arid and semi-arid region. The Energy Ministry’s data show that close to 30 million people are struggling with varying degrees of water scarcity and related challenges that have only deteriorated.
