Total precipitation since Sept. 23, when the current water year started, shows a 122% rise compared to the corresponding period last year, reducing to some extent the huge water deficit throughout the country.
According to data from the Iran Water Resources Management Company, 200 millimeters of rain fell between Sept. 23 to March 9.
During the same period last year 90 mm of rain fell in the country long struggling with a worsening water crisis and draught, the Persian-language newspaper Donya-e-Eqtesad reported on Saturday.
In the first 168 days of the present water year, the amount of rainfall was 92 mm. In the same period last year some of the country’s basins, including the Persian Gulf basin, had no rainfall. This year it rained in those regions, the Financial Tribune’s sister publication wrote.
Kermanshah, Alborz, Tehran, Golestan and Mazandaran provinces received the highest amount of rainfall.
Ardebil, Kerman, Fars, Yazd and Sistan and Baluchestan Provinces reported below average rainfall in the period.
"Despite the promising precipitation in autumn and winter, total rainfall is still 50 millimeters below the long-term average," Sadeq Ziaian, head of the National Drought Warning and Monitoring Center, a subsidiary of Iran Meteorological Organization, said.
As a country that has been struggling with short and long-term drought for decades, the nation cannot expect to avert the crisis in the foreseeable future, he added.
Of the 178 dams half are still in deficit and supply fails to meet growing demand due to prolonged drought in the central plateau.
Ziaian stressed that “one wet year cannot end the severe drought.”
Echoing the consistent appeals of conservationists, environmentalists and experts, he said Iranians need to learn to manage their limited water resources in a sustainable manner. “If not, the water crisis will be a recurring nightmare.”
