Central Plateau Burning in Thirst

The central plateau catchment area, the vastest among the six primary drainage basins inside Iran, is hopelessly struggling in a battle against drought these days.
This is not a new challenge, as climate change and low precipitation have already put the region's inhabitants under pressure over the past few decades.
However, the trend appears to be gaining momentum in recent years with population growth and unsustainable development exacerbating the conditions. 
Based on the data regularly released by the Water Resources Management Company, the catchment area has received almost half of the rainfall it did during the last water year.
According to the stats, since September 23, 2017 (beginning of the current water year) up to May 5 , the central plateau has been fed with 83.2 millimeters of rainfall, 44.9% less than the last corresponding period with 151 millimeters.
The whole catchment area is composed of nine secondary watershed areas, including salt lake, Gavkhouni, Bakhtegan, Abarqu, Hamoun, the Lut Desert, central desert, Siahkouh and Kavir-dar-anjir.