Compared to the past years, the level of precipitation in Iran from the beginning of the water year (September 23) until March 30 has decreased by 11%, announced the CEO of Tehran Regional Water Company, Khosrow Erteghaee.
A water year (also called discharge year or flow year) is a term commonly used in hydrology to describe a time period of 12 months for which precipitation totals are measured.
Speaking to ISNA, he hoped rainfall during the final days of the last Iranian year and beginning days of the current year (started March 21) would compensate part of the shortage, asserting that the amount of surface water has also decreased due to severe droughts in the past two years.
Erteghaee stressed that water is not a renewable resource and warned if restrictions are not implemented, Iran will face a significant water crisis in the summer.
“We have put up signs in the vicinity of dams to raise public awareness towards the shortage of water and draw attention to the alarmingly low level of water in dams,” he said.
The shortage of water in Iran makes keeping clean what little is left a pressing matter.
To address this, environmental NGOs and travelers joined forces in a collaborative effort.
As part of the collaboration, around 100,000 garbage bags were distributed on National Nature Day (April 2) among campers who set up tents along some of Tehran Province’s water streams to collect garbage.
“Every year on this day, a large amount of garbage is left over by campers and travelers alongside or in the rivers which not only have serious environmental impacts, but also incur costs on the Water Company to collect the litter,” said Mohsen Eslamizadeh, who led the effort.
The initiative stopped 150 tons of litter from entering the province’s rivers, including Jajrud River, Karaj River, and Shahrud River, each leading to Latiyan, Amirkabir, and Taleghan dams respectively.
In order to raise awareness, the Festival of Water and Nature was organized by the NGOs during the Nowruz holiday which got a warm reception.
The festival included various activities such as tug of war, children painting, and theater performances with relevant themes.
According to Eslamizadeh, the Tehran Regional Water Company is hosting a photography competition to commemorate World Water Day, March 22.
The contest themes are ‘Water and Beauty’, Water and Life’, ‘Water Crisis’, and ‘Water Pollution’. Those interested have until April 21 (Ordibehesht 1) to send up to seven pictures to aabphoto@thrw.ir.
