Poor rainfall and growing population in recent decades have led to the reduction of Iran's groundwater reserves, such that the level of groundwater in alluvial aquifers has decreased by an average of 4.7 billion cubic meters annually.
Firouz Qasemzadeh, director general of the National Water Data and Information Office at the Iran Water Resources Management Company, said the average annual depletion of water in the country's alluvial aquifers during the last water year (ended September 2021), which had very little precipitation, was more than 7.1 billion cubic meters, which is a huge figure, ILNA reported.
Alluvial aquifers are generally shallower than sedimentary and fractured rock aquifers and water levels often fluctuate due to varying recharge and pumping rates.
Referring to the consequences of declining groundwater levels, the official said desiccation of rivers and wetlands, loss of vegetation, increasing sand storms, land subsidence, creation of deep sinkholes in plains and salinization of groundwater are among serious consequences if groundwater levels continue to drop.
“Studies show that the decline in the level and volume of water is continuing in alluvial aquifers in the western and somewhat northern and northwestern regions of the country as well as the central plateau and the eastern strip, which include the widest alluvial zones and have the largest share of groundwater resources,” he said.
“Unfortunately, the negative effects of groundwater depletion cause the destruction of the country's aquifers and make it difficult to revive them. Furthermore, land subsidence brings about the compaction of soil layers and reduce soil porosity, in addition to damaging infrastructure and buildings. This ultimately leads to the loss of water storage capacity in the aquifer and makes it impossible for the water to be stored in the groundwater aquifer.”
Precious Reserves
Referring to groundwater resources as strategic and valuable reserves that are formed over decades and centuries, Qasemzadeh said, “In climates with limited access to water resources such as arid and semi-arid climate of Iran, there is high dependence on groundwater resources so imbalance in these reserves can cause serious water stress.”
Apart from the declining trend of rainfall in the country, the rising temperature has also increased evaporation. These conditions, along with changes in social and economic factors over the past years, as well as the failure to make appropriate decisions for tackling water scarcity, have led to declining groundwater levels, which limits available water resources and weakens aquifers, he added.
Referring to the measures taken to revive and balance groundwater resources, Qasemzadeh said, “Important activities have been carried out to prevent further decline of the water level in aquifers, including sealing unauthorized wells, equipping wells with smart meters and preventing overdraft from legal wells. However, the problem still exist, which means more needs to be done in this regard.”
According to reports, over 200 cities encountered water tension last year. In 7,000 rural districts, potable water was supplied via tankers in summer.
The Energy Ministry’s data show that close to 30 million people are struggling with varying degrees of water scarcity and related challenges that have only deteriorated, as the blame game continues among ministries and related organizations.
