Since the beginning of the current water year (Sept. 23), 37 millimeters of rainfall have been registered across Iran, showing a 12% rise compared with the same period of last year when the figure was 33 millimeters, the head of Data and Information Department at Iran Water Resources Management Company said.
“The fall season has again started with low precipitation and rainfall has decreased by a massive 90% in the parched province of Sistan-Baluchestan,” IRNA also quoted Firouz Qasemzadeh as saying.
Other regions, including Qom, Tehran, Hamedan, Semnan, Tehran, Alborz, Kermanshah and Qazvin, have also witnessed a 50% decline in precipitation in the 79-day period, yet northern provinces, namely Gilan, Mazandaran and Ardabil, have received more rainfall compared to the last year, he added.
The official noted that the amount of water entering dams across the country has been estimated at 3.4 million cubic meters since the beginning of the current water year, up 14% compared to a year ago.
“Nonetheless, water outflow from dams in the same period reached 4.5 bcm, indicating a 4% decrease compared to last year. Water stored in dams across Iran has reached 18 bcm [and only 37% of the dams are full], which are 3% more compared with last year's level,” he said.
Referring to water conditions in Tehran Province, Qasemzadeh said since Sept. 23, as little as 31 millimeters of rainfall have been registered in Tehran.
Tehran’s dams are currently only 15% full, down 21% compared to a year ago.
Dams supplying water to Tehran include Taleqan, Latyan, Mamlou, Karaj and Lar. The five dams together can hold 2 billion cubic meters of water, but the current volume is about 300 million cubic meters.
Despite the poor situation of dams, Tehran’s water consumption is high and more than 3 billion liters of water are consumed per day in the metropolis.
Snowfall
Close to 32 cm of snowfall were registered around Latyan Dam last week, while the level of snowfall around other dams in the province reached 20 cm.
Water is a heavily subsidized commodity in Iran and while urban consumers pay 30% of its real price, only 20% of the production cost are paid by consumers in rural regions.
According to the National Water and Wastewater Engineering Company, the production of one cubic meter of water for urban users costs a little less than 40,000 rials (10 cents) and supplying the same amount to rural areas costs more.
Referring to per capita consumption of water in the country, which is higher than the global average, he said, “Water in Iran is much cheaper compared to many countries, such that the cost of water is a miniscule 0.5% of household expenses.”
Every Iranian uses an average of 200 liters of water every day and per capita water consumption in a metropolis like Tehran exceeds 300 liters while the global average is 150 liters.
The official said close to 60% of the consumers are using water within the limits.
“The Energy Ministry is planning to ramp up tariffs for heavy consumers to tackle overconsumption,” he added.
Regarding the gulf between the present bills and what it costs to produce and supply water, Qasemzadeh said any meager increase in prices will simply not plug the deep holes in the water industry but will help only partly pay for setting up the infrastructure, modernizing dilapidated networks and buying new technology and equipment.
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.
Iran is experiencing unprecedented climate-related problems such as desiccation of lakes and rivers, dust storms, high temperatures, droughts and floods.
Recent studies have found that compared to 1980–2004, Iran is likely to experience extended periods of extreme temperatures in the southern parts of the country, extended periods of dry as well as wet spells, and higher frequencies of floods.
In Iran, a country dominated by an arid and semi-arid climate, significant climate anomalies have been observed over the last decade.
In combination with management-related issues, Iran has faced many disasters from the shrinking of a significant number of lakes and rivers, to land subsidence, floods and droughts.
The country’s groundwater resources also face extremely critical conditions because of overexploitation and the country ranks among the top groundwater miners in the world.
