Unsustainable urbanization of the sprawling Iranian capital Tehran has endangered water resources in and around the province, a member of Iran Water Industry Federation, a privately-owned organization, said.
“Supplying water to residents in Tehran at any price is a wrong policy, as it has forced related bodies to dig wells in plains from which water withdrawal is forbidden,” Reza Hajkarim was also quoted as saying by ILNA.
As the dams around the capital are half empty most of the time, thousands of wells have been drilled to meet rising demand in the city, the irreparable damage of which approach is already taking a heavy toll on diminishing water resources, he added.
The official said the absence of adequate wastewater treatment plants has added salt to injury in a city where recycling sewage must be a top priority.
At present, attempts to convince people to consume water prudently or to install water saving devices such as low flow showerheads, aerators and toilet tanks have all failed and per capita water use in the city is at least threefold higher than the global standard.
“All this has had a domino effect and exacerbated the environmental destruction in the region,” he said.
Because providing the city with sufficient potable water is linked to political issues, policy- and decision-makers have been oblivious of the potentially costly environmental implications of their decisions, one of which is land subsidence.
In some plains of Tehran Province, land subsidence is about 0.5 to 1 millimeter every day, and conditions are more critical in Shahriar and Varamin counties in southwest and south Tehran, Razavi had said before.
An annual 31 centimeters of land subsidence is reported in Tehran Province. Over 3 billion cubic meters of water are extracted from underground sources in the capital.
The main causes of overuse are the aquifer-system compaction, drainage of organic soils, mining, gas and oil extraction, as well as earthquakes.
Injudicious Extraction
However, the main reason of land subsidence in Iran is injudicious groundwater extraction that has been causing serious concern among conservationists, environmental experts and academia.
Although reversing land subsidence is impossible, slowing its progress is doable if the government and the people were to cooperate.
Besides land subsidence, groundwater overdraft may lead to the destruction of vegetation, increase the possibility of dust storms, cause land subsidence in the plains and increase groundwater salinity.
Curbing the spread of land subsidence is of primary importance. When the ground surface moves lower, the entire city sinks with it, which in turn affects the stability of buildings and infrastructure.
Illegal water wells have emerged as a dilemma for the water authorities struggling to curb the high extraction and consumption rates, especially in agricultural regions.
Hajkarim noted that the private sector's reluctance to invest in the loss-making water sector has also added insult to injury, adding that the bloated bureaucracy, high risk of investment, volatility in forex market, sanctions and very low return on investment compared to other businesses have discouraged private investments in water ventures.
“We are able to export our technical and engineering services to other nations. Nonetheless, when it comes to carrying out projects in Iran, they are supported neither technically nor financially. Due to the current water condition in the Middle East and the fact that by 2050, the region should need 60% more water than now, what is important is to have a national discussion about water,” he said.
Over the past 50 years, decisions were made about water without the participation of all beneficiaries, namely farmers, environmental watchdogs and chains of water industry. Consequently, these groups are now engaging in the blame game over dam construction and other issues.
“In view of the current state of the country’s strategic water reserves, we cannot afford to make another mistake,” Hajkarim said.
“Water has been viewed by commercial operators and industries as an abundant resource and a low-cost commodity”.
Now that this finite resource is depleting rapidly and water shortages are felt in most parts of the country, this view must change.
