The current water year (started Sept. 23) began with scattered showers and total precipitation height in over a month shows a 56% increase compared to the corresponding period last year, bringing some respite and reducing the huge water deficit seen for painfully extended periods throughout the country.
According to data from the Iran Water Resources Management Company, much-needed rainfall amounted to 13.4 millimeters from September 23-October 27. During the same period last year the figure was 8.6 mm, IRNA reported.
In the first 35 days of the present water year, the amount of rainfall reported was 22 billion cubic meters. In the same period last year, some of the country’s basins, including the Persian Gulf Basin, did not see any rainfall while this year it rained in that region.
Most provinces have reported above average rainfall since the beginning of the new water year. According to the reports published by the Iran Meteorological Organization, higher precipitation is expected following years of low rainfall and drought that is forcing large numbers of people in the smaller towns and rural areas to abandon their dwelling places in search of work and livelihood.
The country is long grappling with water crisis especially in the central plateau. Years of drought and steep decline in rainfall over the decades have contributed to the rapidly deteriorating water conditions.
Located in a desert area, Yazd Province is among the parched regions where violence and conflict emerged in the recent past with other provinces over the rapidly dwindling water reserves and how to share the precocious resource.
New Storage Tank in Ardakan
According to Mohammad Mehdi Javadianzadeh, the head of Yazd Regional Water Company, average precipitation in Yazd Province was as low as 80 mm in the last water year, one-third of the overall rainfall reported across the country. “Annual water consumption in the province, with a population of 1.2 million, is 1,100 mcm, 85% of which comes from water transferred from other provinces".
To supply water to Ardakan County in Yazd, the construction of a water tank to store 10,000 cubic meters of water has started, said the deputy for engineering and development at the Yazd Water and Sewage Company.
“The project is underway and will be completed in the first half of the next fiscal (April-September 2019) and cost 35 billion rials ($233,000),” Abbas-Ali Farimani said.
After completion, the total capacity of water storage in the county, with a population of 98,000, will reach 46,000 cubic meters, he added. Water for the county presently comes from 12 wells and 4 desalination units.
There are also projects to supply water from the Sea of Oman to the drought-hit central province – seen by most observers and experts as the best available option.
