The five dams supplying water to Tehran have more water compared to the previous years; however, as the capacity of surface water pipelines is limited due to seepage and rusting infrastructure, residents in the capital should be more careful about their water consumption, the managing director of Tehran Regional Water Company said.
“Tehran dams have around 342 million cubic meters of water more than last year and almost 66 mcm more compared to the long-term average,” ILNA quoted Seyed Hassan Razavi as saying.
Since the beginning of the current water year last September, Tehran has received 371 millimeters of rain, which shows a 78% increase compared to the corresponding period last year, and 48% rise compared to the long-term average, Razavi added.
Heavy rainfall since last autumn, which reached record levels in March and April, increased the water in dams to levels unseen in half a century.
“Despite the good rains in March and April, precipitation declined in May,” he said. “Regrettably, in May rainfall was barely 10.5 mm. This is while last year, which was the driest in over five decades, we had 63.5 mm in May”.
Since September close to 1.625 billion cubic meters of water have entered Tehran dams, namely Taleqan, Latyan, Mamlou, Karaj and Lar, up 117% compared to the same time last year when 749 mcm of inflow was registered.
Need for Caution
Tehran dams together can hold 1.93 billion cubic meters of water. Recent rains plus melting snow in the catchment area of dams helped increase the volume of water stored in the huge structures. Dams now hold 1,050 mcm of water.
Razavi stressed that the recent good news and positive developments do not mean that people can consume the precious resource as much as they can.
Almost half the water supply networks in cities and small towns are old and need to be repaired and replaced to reduce the monumental water loss.
A mind-boggling 700 million cubic meters of water is wasted annually as environmentalists and economic experts beg to find effective ways to curb consumption and waste.
Tehran water network is more than 50 years old. According to water experts, about 35% of water is lost in the network due to seepage and rust.
As per the Sixth Five-Year Economic Development Plan (2017-22), the wastage rate should keep declining 0.5% a year to reach 23% in 2022.
The amount of potable water used annually in Tehran Province alone exceeds 1.4 billion cubic meters, accounting for almost 20% of the total potable water consumption in the country of 80 million plus people.
The unsustainable and dangerous consumption patterns are visibly threatening water supply in the sprawling capital.
Climate change, illegal water wells, wasteful farming practices, water-intensive industries in arid regions and injudicious use of water in households are known to have a far greater impact on the water crisis.
Tehran Province has 13,000 legal and 32,000 illegal water wells.
