Ground resources, including water tables and aquifers, in Iran are suffering from tremendous pressure as their share in the country’s annual water supply has surpassed a massive 55% or 55 billion cubic meters, while surface water and dams meet less than 45% of the annual demand.
The unsustainable withdrawal is taking a heavy toll on farmers, as it leaves in its trail nothing but barren landscapes in central, eastern and southern parts of the country.
Data released by the Energy Ministry, Majlis Research Center, the influential research arm of the Iranian Parliament, and Iran Water Resources Management Company indicate that underground water accounts for 55% of Iran’s total annual water consumption at 100 bcm, ILNA reported.
Based on recently issued reports, withdrawal from diminishing groundwater tables and aquifers has exceeded 80% in parched provinces, namely South Khorasan, Hamedan, Isfahan, Kerman, Hormozgan and Yazd.
Giving a breakdown, the report noted that water extracted from ground resources in Kerman, South Khorasan and Hamedan stands at 93%, 89% and 80% respectively.
Of the total extraction (100 bcm), 87% are used in the agro sector while household and industrial sectors account for 9% and 3% respectively.
Majlis Research Center says in its report that groundwater resources all over the country are shrinking at such an incredible speed that water tables cannot replenish themselves.
According to the report, Iran is on red alert as overextraction of groundwater resources over the last four decades is not only hurting the farming sector but also industries.
Groundwater use peaked in the 1990s and surprisingly, the uptrend has continued unabated, the report said.
Annual water deficit from ground resources in Iran is increasing by 5 bcm per year and has now reached 143 bcm, that is more than the volume of renewable water resources.
Annual renewable water resources average 105 bcm, of which close to 70 bcm are exploitable.
Annual Flow
Renewable water resources are defined as the average annual flow of rivers and recharge of aquifers generated from precipitation.
According to the Energy Ministry data, renewable resources amounted to 140 bcm in 1999, which started rapidly descending ever since. It fell to 135 bcm, 130 bcm and 110 bcm in 2007, 2013 and 2017 respectively.
“Expanding water-intensive industries in parched areas, digging illegal wells, planting water-intensive crops to become self-sufficient at any price, in addition to chronic droughts, are all pushing the water-stressed country to the point of no return,” the report added.
The continuation of critical condition can endanger the country’s security.
Iran's annual water consumption is north of 100 billion cubic meters and its shocking water deficit will not decline unless the excessive withdrawal of water from aquifers in the agriculture sector ends.
Tens of thousands of illegal water wells, which have been dug in recent years across the country, must be sealed without fear or favor.
The Energy Ministry says there are 800,000 legal water wells in Iran, from which 45 bcm of water are extracted and the rest (10 bcm) are withdrawn from illegal wells.
Iran Water Industry Federation’s assessments rank the country among the top three with the highest land subsidence rate caused by the substantial decline in groundwater resources.
"It is regrettable that despite all warnings issued by domestic and international research institutes, policymakers insist on pursuing poor strategies that have been in place over the last four decades," Reza Hajikarim, a board member of the privately-owned IWIF, said.
Water-Intensive Industries
The official noted that water-intensive industries, especially steel, are expanding in desert areas like Kashan County in the central Isfahan Province, pointing out that steel mill owners are developing their plants in arid areas by buying dry farmlands.
“In other parched regions like Hamedan Plain, thermal power plants are depleting aquifers as they require massive amounts of water for their cooling towers,” he said.
“When a plain begins to subside, reversing the trend will be very time-consuming and it may take 50 years to avert the disaster.”
Even if water extraction from the region is totally banned, subsidence will not stop and only the speed of sinking will decline.
Referring to a short-term plan carried out to help save some endangered plains in Khorasan Razavi Province, Hajikarim noted that the project was aimed at reducing water extraction in the areas, but it failed to serve the purpose as it did not continue.
Drawing a parallel between the current situation in some plains of Iran and California in the US, he said before the area could reach a critical point, American water officials started to modify agricultural patterns and the cultivation of water-intensive crops was totally banned to minimize water withdrawal from underground tables.
“They started to tap into reclaimed wastewater resources not only to irrigate their farms but also to provide piped water for citizens,” he said.
