An estimated 1,260 villages in Sistan-Baluchistan Province lack piped water, director of the provincial regional water company said.
“Close to 251,000 rural people are being supplied with safe drinking water via tankers [at times posing health risks],” Abdolahad Rigi was quoted as saying by ILNA.
Noting that a large part of the water demand in the underdeveloped southeastern region -- with 6,000 villages and small towns -- is met from neighboring Afghanistan, Chah Nimeh reservoirs and underground resources, Rigi called for funding to address the problem of drinking water by expanding local water infrastructure.
Some 15,000 kilometers of water pipes exist in the dry province and at least $160 million is needed to complete 28 water projects to supply 1,400 small towns will potable water.
"Of this amount, Sistan-Baluchistan Water Company has received only $40 million."
If the funds are not provided [either by the government or the National Development Fund of Iran (NDFI) -- a sovereign wealth fund], rural folks in increasing numbers will pack up and leave, he warned.
Results of the National Population and Housing Census released in 2017 show that in the past seven years, a shocking 3.9 million people migrated from rural to urban areas, of which 20% moved to Tehran, 7.3% went to Khorasan Razavi Province and 6.8% to Isfahan and the rest to other cities.
Several villages are completely deserted partly due to the long years of drought that drove unusually large numbers from their farms and villages to cities in search of jobs that have become few and far between.
Experts have warned that if the trend continues, the rural population will further decline to 22% by 2031. Iran’s urban population is said to be 70% -- a disturbing trend about which policy and decision makers have done little despite repeated warnings from social pundits, academia and economic experts.
Implementation of efficient programs for sustainable rural development in the country of 80 million people can check the growing rate of rural to urban migration and its negative impacts.
Chah-Nimeh reservoirs are three natural and big cavities south of the Sistan Plain 50km from Zabol. Surplus water from Hirmand River flows into the cavities through a canal. The reservoirs can hold 700 million cubic meters of water.
