Despite the promising springtime rainfalls that improved the figures for the season, the total precipitation is still 29% below its long-term average, a senior official at Iran Meteorological Organization said.
The country has received a total amount of 70 millimeters of rainfall during the first three months of the current Iranian year (started March 21), which shows a 35 % rise compared to last spring, the head of National Drought Warning and Monitoring Center Sadeq Ziaian noted.
"The rainfalls are almost 27% higher than the long-term average of 55mm for the spring season," ISNA quoted Ziaian as saying.
According to the official, the driest provinces over the past season were Hormozgan, Sistan-Baluchestan and Gilan, respectively with 67%, 44% and 36% less precipitation compared to the spring of last year.
Ardebil, Khorasan Razavi, North Khorasan, Golestan and Mazandaran provinces, on the other hand, have received the highest amount of rainfall.
"Precipitation is reported as above normal in other provinces," Ziaian said.
Broader View
However, more comprehensive data released by the Energy Ministry illustrates that Iran is still over 29% behind its average precipitation during the last five decades.
In detail, the country received a total of 166mm of rainfall since the beginning of the current water year (September 23, 2017), which shows a 26.4% fall compared with the previous year with 226.4mm.
In addition, the current water year's figure is way behind its 50-year average of 237.3mm.
Among the country's six primary catchment areas, the Persian Gulf and the Oman Sea in the south registered the biggest decline in rainfall, equal to 41.4%.
The Central Plateau in Markazi Province with 34.8%, Hamoun Wetlands in the east with 33.4%, and Karakum in the northeast with 20.8% have had the next highest drops in precipitation.
Provinces of Fars, Kohgiluyeh-Boyerahmad, Bushehr, Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari, Khorasan Razavi, Khuzestan and Yazd have been the driest provinces since the beginning of the water year, according to Ziaian.
"Kurdestan, East Azarbaijan and West Azarbaijan provinces have been the rainiest ones, while Qazvin, Ilam, Semnan, Zanjan, Hamedan, Kermanshah and Ardebil have had normal precipitation over the past nine months."
Experts predict that 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.
