Residents of the Iranian capital Tehran will see no restrictions imposed on their water use this summer, according to an official at the Tehran Province Water and Wastewater Company.
Last week, Tehran Governorate warned the capital city’s residents about the metropolis’ serious water shortage and announced that measures will be taken to help mitigate its effects, such as imposing fines on household with high water consumption.
However, Mohammad Parvaresh, the head of TPWW, assured Tehran’s residents that no restrictions will be imposed this summer, “though a slight decrease in water pressure in some areas is inevitable due to high consumption”, he told ISNA.
Located in one of the world’s most water-stressed regions, Iran’s rainfall is a third of the global average which, combined with injudicious consumption, waste and climate change, has inflicted 16 years of relentless drought on the country of 80 million people.
This summer is expected to be 0.5 to 1.5 degrees Celsius warmer than average, but surprisingly high precipitation during the current water year that started in September 2015 compared to the previous year has alleviated fears of water rationing in the sprawling capital.
“People play a key role in controlling water use, as evidenced by how judicious use helped them get through last year,” he said.
Parvaresh called for public management of water consumption to control the water crisis to the extent possible.
“Water consumption reaches its peak in early August, increasing by about 30% compared to the average,” he said.
“We will get through the summer as long as the people pay more attention to the severity of the problem and practice responsible water use.”
The multitude of factors affecting Iran’s water supplies means that it takes a lot more than a slight increase in precipitation to ease the chronic water shortage, as is misunderstood by the public.
Desertification, climate change, illegal water wells, wasteful farming practices, water-intensive industries in arid regions and injudicious use of water in households are known to have a far greater effect on the worsening crisis.
