Despite Floods, Drought in Iran Has Not Ended

The floods destroyed cities but filled wetlands. Flood victims lament the disaster while officials speak of blessing and abundance. What do experts and environmental activists say? Can the water accumulated in wetlands and behind dams prevent drought?

Reza Ardakanian, Minister of Power, says that in recent rainfall, 44 wetlands in the country have been filled 40 to 100 percent, and the volume of dam water has reached 75 percent capacity.

Issa Kalantari, head of the Environmental Organization, has expressed hope that with recent rainfall, Iran will be saved from the danger of water scarcity. According to Kalantari, more than 90 percent of the country’s wetlands have been filled.

However, these same officials warned about drought before the rains began and floods occurred, and now they have become optimistic, and this optimism has even strengthened regarding the revival of Lake Urmia.

Half a Meter Increase in Lake Urmia Water Level

Reports indicate that rainfall has caused a half-meter increase in Lake Urmia’s water level. Some experts, including Parviz Kardavani, believe that “expecting the revival of Lake Urmia is futile.”

Kardavani, a geographer and environmental activist, says that although many provinces in the country have been flooded, “Iran has not entered a wet period.” This expert said in an interview with IRNA that “the claim about Iran entering a wet period is unrealistic.”

Kardavani rejects the claims of officials and those who said Iran’s water problem has been solved and drought has been halted. In an interview with IRNA, he said in response to officials’ claims: “This is not true and we have in no way entered a wet period. Due to global warming, the drought trend continues to affect many parts of different regions of the world, including Iran, and droughts will continue.”

In the opinion of this environmental expert, “as long as the Earth is warming, Iran’s rainfall is expected to remain low.”

Kardavani concludes that Iran’s rainfall is neither a sign of entering a wet period, nor will it indicate that climate change has occurred.

According to this expert, a wet period can only occur as a result of climate changes.

Besides Parviz Kardavani, there are other experts in Iran who believe “we should not be comforted by recent rains” and warn about the phenomenon of “century-long drought” as a phenomenon facing the country.

Neamet Hasani, director of the Natural Crisis Studies Center at Shahid Beheshti University, in a conversation with ISNA, attributes the main causes of the floods to climate change, global warming, and the concentration of rainfall.

This expert says that the claim of entering a “wet period” is not correct. He predicts that Iran will face “century-long drought.”

Hashani explains in this regard: “Looking at studies over a century, the average rainfall in the country, which was 240 millimeters per year at the beginning of the twenty-first century, will decrease to 180 millimeters per year at the end of this century, or in 100 years. In other words, in the future we will lose about 60 millimeters of our rainfall, and it is better to use the term ‘century-long drought’ in cultural awareness in the water category, because we are facing a dry century.”

Neamet Hasani concludes: “What happened (the flooding) despite the threats and damages, had many benefits and blessings.”

He concludes by saying: “A large volume of water entered the country and Lake Urmia and Lake Bakhtegan, Gavkhoni wetland, Hawizeh Marsh, and many other places that could have caused problems for the country were filled with recent rainfall. On the other hand, many underground aquifers were replenished and dams that had very low water levels are now full. This event brought many lessons for us in the fields of road construction, dam building, bridge building, river engineering and management, and showed that some dams are well-built and strong, and we should judge dams more fairly.”

Source: DW