Renewable water resources show an appalling 20% decline over five years, declining from 130 billion cubic meters in 2013 to 105 bcm now.
Renewable water resources are defined as the average manual flow of rivers and recharge of aquifers generated from precipitation.
According to ISNA, the [renewable] resources were around 140 bcm in 1999 and embarked on the rapidly descending order ever since. It fell to 135 bcm, 130 bcm and 105 bcm in 2007, 2013 and 2017 respectively.
Annual renewable water resources average 114 bcm, of which close to 70 bcm is exploitable.
Iran's annual water consumption is north of 100 billion cubic meters. Translation: the shocking water deficit will not reduce unless excessive withdrawal of water from aquifers in the agriculture sector ends. Illegal water wells, which have been dug in the tens of thousands in recent years across the country, must be sealed without fear or favor.
Experts including Isa Kalantari, head of the Department of Environment, say the country’s water scarcity will hit crisis level by 2025, when available renewable water will be less than 1,000 cubic meters per capita, down from 2,000 cubic meters in 1950.
The DoE chief and economic experts have often warned about the high consumption patterns in the farming sector and are on record as having said that water is being extracted much faster than it can be replenished.
They have also said that large parts of the water-stressed country will turn into barren desert if those in charge don’t change course and rewrite the centuries-old agricultural polices that at best is unsustainable.
However, all their pleas and appeals have fallen on deaf ears. How, when and where things will take a turn for the better remains to be seen
Officials say at least 90% of Iran’s natural water resources have already been depleted to meet domestic needs and relying on natural reserves is now simply a thing of the past.
Average annual precipitation has also dwindled by 60 bcm over the last 10 years, plunging to the current 359 bcm compared to 420 bcm in 2007.
Lost to Evaporation
According to Energy Minister Reza Ardakanian, it is estimated that 60% of the annual precipitation in the world evaporates. Given Iran's geographical proximity to its location in the arid and semi-arid region, 70% of the annual rainfall is lost to evaporation.
Evaporation from lakes and dams amounts to 5% globally. Nevertheless, it exceeds 6% in Iran.
Iran uses a record 80% of its total renewable freshwater resources, whereas international norms suggest a ceiling between 20% and 40% to ensure environmental sustainability and to meet rising demands of growing populations. Since 2007, annual water use in the country has ranged between 70 bcm and 100 bcm, of which 91% is used by farmers who apparently seem indifferent to the serious water shortages and the disaster waiting to happen.
Aquifers produce more than 60% of all water used in Iran today. Over the past 20 years 120 bcm has been extracted from non-renewable groundwater bodies including deep aquifers, with an average of 6 bcm of groundwater depletion a year. To restore the lost capacity consumption rates must be lowered by 11-12 bcm per year.
Reportedly, most of the over-exploitation occurs in the central basins where less surface water is available and is rapidly getting lesser.
The old, yet sustainable, qanats system of groundwater extraction still accounts for 9% of water resources with an annual discharge of 6.3 bcm.
Iran’s ancient network of more than 32,000 qanats runs a total length of 400,000 km or eight times the earth’s circumference. The potential of qanats in helping find workable solutions to the water crisis is there for all to see. Whey policy and decision makers do not embark on this logical and tested path remains under a big question mark.
