Tehran dams currently have about 640 million cubic meters of water, which shows a 20% decline compared to this time last year, when the figure was 800 mcm, managing director of Tehran Water and Wastewater Company said.
“Due to two consecutive years of drought, we have about 32% less precipitation this year compared to last year. This indicates a worrying situation for water resources in the province,” ILNA also quoted Mohammad Reza Bakhtiari as saying.
“Consumption is very high, as about 3.5 mcm of water are being used per day in Tehran, which has complicated the issue and the system is under pressure,” he added.
According to global standards, a four-member family's average water use is 15 cubic meters per month, whereas in Tehran it is 30 cubic meters for almost 40% of households.
The official noted that despite the decline in the water level of dams and high consumption, efforts are being made not to disrupt the water supply of any sector.
“Around 1.2 billion cubic meters, or about 18% of the country's water, are consumed in Tehran annually,” Bakhtiari said, stressing that Tehran's subscribers need to reduce their consumption by 10% so that the water authority is not compelled to ration water.
If subscribers do not rethink their imprudent consumption pattern, a significant decrease in water pressure in some areas will be inevitable.
Dams supplying water to Tehran include Taleqan, Latyan, Mamlou, Karaj and Lar. The five dams together can hold 2 billion cubic meters of water, but the water stored in them now is about 30% of their total capacity.
Almost 30% of potable water demand in the province can be met through dams and the rest must be extracted from underground resources, which are already in a bad state.
Unsustainable Pattern
The unsustainable consumption pattern seriously threatens water supply in the sprawling capital amid low rainfall and persistent drought.
Desertification, climate change, illegal water wells, wasteful farming practices, water-intensive industries in arid regions and injudicious water use in households are known to have a significant impact on the worsening crisis.
Reportedly, there are 13,000 legal and 32,000 illegal water wells in Tehran Province alone.
Injudicious consumption across Tehran Province over the past 15 years has taken a toll on water resources to such an extent that the city is using 150 mcm of renewable water more than necessary.
Water is heavily subsidized in Iran. While urban consumers pay 43% of its real price, only 23% of the production costs are paid by rural residents.
The production of 1 cubic meter of water for urban use costs 4 cents while supplying the same to rural areas costs higher.
National Status
According to official data, 269 days into the current water year (started September 2021), the total volume of water in the dams across the country has reached 26.19 billion cubic meters which, compared with the same period of the previous water year, indicate a 5% decrease.
The number of cities experiencing water stress in the country has reached 272, managing director of Water and Wastewater Company of Iran said.
“If water consumption is not reduced, there is a possibility of the figure rising to 600 cities,” Atabak Jafari was also quoted as saying by ILNA.
The Energy Ministry’s data show that close to 30 million people are struggling with varying degrees of water scarcity and related challenges have also deteriorated.
Iran is experiencing unprecedented climate-related problems such as desiccation of lakes and rivers, dust storms, high temperatures, droughts and floods.
Recent studies have found that compared to 1980–2004, Iran is likely to experience extended periods of extreme temperatures in the southern parts of the country, extended periods of dry as well as wet spells, and higher frequencies of floods.
In Iran, a country dominated by an arid and semi-arid climate, significant climate anomalies have been observed over the past decade.
Along with management-related issues, Iran faces many disasters from the shrinking of a significant number of lakes and rivers, to land subsidence, floods and droughts.
Iran’s groundwater resources are in extremely critical condition because of overexploitation and the country ranks among the top groundwater miners in the world.
