Water is a heavily subsidized commodity in Iran and while urban consumers pay 43% of its real price, only 23% of the production cost is paid by consumers in rural regions, says the director of planning and economic affairs at the National Water and Wastewater Engineering Company.
Reiterating the position of past and present water officials, Masoud Khashaee said the prices are far apart from production costs, “However, raising costs across the board is not on the agenda of the Energy Ministry,” ISNA quoted him as saying.
Production of one cubic meter of water for urban users costs a little less than 10,000 rials (10 cents) and supplying the same amount to rural areas costs above this amount.
Referring to per capita consumption of water in the country, which is higher than the global average, Khashaee said, “Water in Iran is much cheaper compared to many countries, such that the cost of water is a miniscule 0.4% of household expenses”.
According to Energy Ministry data, every Iranian uses an average of 250 liters of water every day and per capita water consumption in a metropolis like Tehran exceeds 400 liters. The global average is 150 liters.
The official said close to 57% of the consumers are within their limits. “The Energy Ministry is planning to ramp up tariffs for large consumers to tackle overconsumption”.
Regarding the gulf between the present bills and what it costs to produce and supply water, Khashaee said any meager increase in prices will simply not plug the deep holes in the water industry but will help only partly pay for infrastructure, modernizing dilapidated networks and buying new technology and equipment.
Iran is facing serious water scarcity due to overuse of water resources plus drought and low precipitation.
Located in one of the world’s most water-stressed regions, Iran’s average precipitation has been lower than the global average for at least 10 years.
Last year the country had the lowest precipitation in almost half a century. Statistics show that there was 166 millimeters of rainfall in the past water year (September 2017-2018) -- 27% lower than one year before.
Experts believe that low water prices have made people oblivious to the fact that they must consume water judiciously and help mitigate the effects of water shortage. There is serious concern that if water consumption patterns do not change in a big way, many parts of the country will turn into barren land and create another serious problem – migration.
It has already been reported that thousands of small villages in the southern regions have been abandoned due to the water crisis as rural folks in increasing numbers abandon their homes in search of livelihood in other parts of the country.
