Above-average rainfall in the last few years notwithstanding, water levels in underground tables have been falling due to overconsumption, a researcher at the Water Policy Research Institution said.
“Extraction of water from aquifers is much higher than the volume of water flowing in and that is why normal rainfall will not replenish the diminishing underground reserves,” Anoush Nouri Esfandiari was quoted as saying by ILNA.
The Energy Ministry has mainly focused on technical and technological strategies namely watershed management, flood dispersal, smart meters or drip irrigation systems.
“Nonetheless, there is one big missing link. There will be no success even after applying the new techniques without people's cooperation,” he noted.
Based on the experience of other countries like Japan, social and cultural approaches (school education) yield better results but “this has been overlooked in the last four decades”.
“Tapping into new technology can help only when the people’s awareness on the importance of being frugal in water consumption spreads,” Esfandiari said.
So long as people are unresponsive and do not collaborate with officials, preventive measures like sealing illegal wells, desalination and transferring water from seas in the north of the country would at best be a temporary respite.
Putting water extraction from underground sources at about 41 billion cubic meters a year, he said this should be cut to 27 bcm per year to avoid a full-fledged disaster.
"Of the total water consumption, 90% goes to agriculture. Household and industries account for 7% and 3%, respectively," he said.
Importing Water
First Vice President Es’haq Jahangiri recently said if the scary and unsustainable consumption patterns do not change, water may have to be imported from other countries.
In response to the vice president’s warning, Esfandiari suggested that those in charge need to concentrate on finding ways to reduce consumption rather than talk about import.
“We must focus on balancing demand and supply and adapt to what is available. Importing water will not solve the problem.”
Economists like Mousa Ghaninejad say the government’s inefficient and dysfunctional farming and water policies have “brought us to where we are today in terms of the water deficit.”
“Government intervention is not the solution to Iran’s economic problems…because interference itself is a problem. The government’s flawed agriculture and water management, like subsidizing water, have given rise to the water crisis,” Ghaninejad wrote in an editorial in the Persian-language economic newspaper Donya-e-Eqtesad.
While the mean annual precipitation of planet Earth is 1,000 mm, in Iran it is hardly 230 mm, which comprises 1.1% of the continental area.
About 90% of the total precipitation is reported in the cold and humid seasons and in northern and western parts of the country, and only 10% in the warm and dry seasons and in central, southern and eastern regions.
According to Esfandiari, water levels in underground tables have dwindled by at least 100 millimeters over 50 years.
To compensate the dangerous decline, rainfall should be at least 400 millimeters. In the last two (wet) years precipitation was less than 300 millimeters.
Iran is located in an arid and semi-arid region. With less than 230 millimeters of rain per year, it is among countries with low precipitation.
