The recent favorable springtime precipitation prevailing in most areas of the country will persist until late May, the head of Monitoring Network at Iran Meteorological Organization said.
Experts have forecast a new raining weather system will enter the country soon from the western border, enveloping the western, southwestern and central provinces with above normal rainfall especially over the next week, ISNA reported.
Although the precipitation level since the beginning of the current year (March 21) has been satisfactory and even higher than expected in a number of provinces, Masoud Haqiqat said, “The country is still faced with a noticeable lack of precipitation compared with past years’ figures.”
Apparently the recent rainfalls raised the total precipitation from less than 100 millimeters during the first half of the current water year (began September 23, 2017) to 127.4mm until April 30, the official said.
Not out of the Wood
“The recent rise in precipitation does not absolutely mean that the water problem has been solved, for we are still 33% beyond last year’s figures and 37% behind the long-term average which is a huge decline,” Haqiqat emphasized.
The official highlighted the necessity of setting water management policies, because “the recent precipitation will not completely make up for the accumulated lack of rainfall over the years.”
Desertification, climate change, illegal water wells, wasteful farming practices, water-intensive industries in arid regions and injudicious household use of water are known to have a far great impact on the worsening water crisis in the country that sits in a semi-arid area.
