To compensate for the widespread drought in Iran, 30 billion cubic meters of seawater should be desalinated and transferred to areas struggling with water shortage, a member of the parliament said.
“For a century, the country’s annual rainfall stood at 650 billion cubic meters, but it fell to 400 billion cubic meters in the past 16 years and 350 bcm in the past two to three years,” Abolfazl Hassan-Beigi was also quoted as saying by Mehr News Agency on Saturday.
Some 18 provinces are hit by water crisis, he added.
The precipitation rate since the beginning of the current water year (started Sept. 23, 2017) has stood at an average of 167.6 millimeters, indicating a drop of 30.7% compared with last year’s corresponding period.
Located in one of the world’s most water-stressed regions, Iran’s average precipitation rate has been lower than the global average for at least 10 years.
Some experts and environmentalists denounce a widely-held notion that chronic water shortages can only be alleviated by higher precipitation.
Rejecting criticisms on plans such as dam building and water transfer, the parliamentarian noted that Iran’s neighbor Turkey is constructing 150 dams. Moreover, the United States and China are working on their dam building plans.
“Our main needs today are potable water as well as industrial and agriculture demand for water,” he said, adding that after meeting these basic needs, the country can consider plans to revive its lakes.
Sustainable Development
This is while environmentalists believe that to reach sustainable development, countries must turn to eco-friendly plans.
On Lake Urmia in the northwest, most of which has become dessicated, he underscored that it can be restored by transferring water from other areas.
Experts say a multitude of factors, including climate change and excessive damming, have caused considerable damage to the lake in the past two decades.
According to reports, tests on 88 people in regions adjacent to Lake Urmia revealed that many were suffering from respiratory diseases.
Energy experts, including Gabriel Collins, the Baker Botts Fellow in Energy & Environmental Regulatory Affairs at the Baker Institute Center for Energy Studies, say that Iran’s current water stress is partly a product of hydrology and climate.
But perhaps most important of all, it stems from decades of mismanagement that is likely to make it very difficult to alleviate the emerging crisis.
Alimorad Akbari, a deputy agriculture minister, told ISNA that the water efficiency rate has reached 44% in the agriculture sector.
Akbari stressed that the use of pressurized irrigation system has also increased from 14% to 22%.
Akbari noted that currently, raising the area of fields under cultivation is banned due to water shortage and the ministry is focused on enhancing efficiency.
