Approximately 28.5 millimeters of rain fell in Tehran Province since July 23 increasing water inflow in five dams around capital, the deputy for water and hydropower affairs at Tehran Regional Water Company said.
“Due to the improved rainfall, 48 million cubic meters of water entered Tehran dams. Inflow in the dams in the same period last year was 24 mcm,” Mohammad Shahriari was quoted as saying by ISNA.
Torrential rains in the middle of summer, unprecedented in recent years, occurred while precipitation last year in the same period was barely 6.5 mm.
Although the amount of rainfall has increased significantly this year, reserves in five dams that supply Tehran with drinking water are still less than this time last year, the official noted.
Dams now hold 543 mcm of water, which is a decline of 103 mcm on last year, when the dams held 646 mcm, he added.
Since last September, 208.6 mm of rain was recorded in Tehran Province, which is less than the long-term average of 274.7 mm, Shahriari said.
Dams supplying Tehran include Taleqan, Latyan, Mamlou, Amirkabir and Lar. The five dams together can hold 2 billion cubic meters of water, which means now they are half empty.
The volume of water reserves in Mamlou, Latyan and Lar dams is currently 65, 48 and 75 mcm, respectively. The levels were 94, 51 and 97 mcm, respectively this time last year.
Water reserves in Amirkabir and Taleqan dams stood at 114 and 241 mcm, respectively, on August 14, while on the same day last year, they had 147 and 257 mcm, respectively.
The highest recorded amount of inflow into Tehran’s dams belonged to Mamlo in the northeast of Tehran with an inflow of 6 mcm.
Lar, Taleqan, Latyan and Amirkabir dams received 2.5, 2.3, 1.5 and 0.4 mcm, respectively in the period.
Regarding hydropower generation in Tehran, Shahriairi said: “Production has decreased by 27% from last year”.
“In the first four months of the current Iranian year [started March], 124,000 megawatt hours of electricity was produced. This is while in the same period last year it was 171,000 megawatt hours.”
The official noted that since the beginning of the new water year (started Sept. 2021), close to 29 billion cubic meters of water entered dams across Iran, up 5% on the same period a year ago. Dams across Iran can hold a maximum of 50 billion cubic meters of water.
