Advisor to the Minister of Energy: Rainfall and water behind dams have decreased sharply
An official from the Iranian Ministry of Energy has announced that the water entering dams by the end of February this year has decreased by 37 percent compared to the previous year.
Mohammad Taghi Tavakoli, advisor to the Minister of Energy, announced this to ISNA news agency on Sunday, March 26, saying that rainfall in the 2018-2019 water year has decreased by 55 percent compared to the previous year. Stating that most dams are in an unfavorable condition that is causing problems in water supply, he said: "We have reached a time in the water issue where we cannot define a challenge, but rather changes must be made in the practice and management of water consumption. People are not observing the water consumption pattern, and water-loving crops must be prevented and the consumption pattern must be corrected."
There has been a sharp decrease in rainfall and water entering dams compared to last year, while Iran has also experienced drought and reduced rainfall in previous years.
However, many experts do not consider drought to be the only problem of the water crisis in Iran, but rather strongly criticize mismanagement and wrong policies in water resource management.
In recent months, numerous reports have been published of land subsidence and the creation of huge sinkholes in the plains of various regions of Iran, which have been attributed to the depletion of groundwater aquifers.
Experts cited the indiscriminate, unsupervised, and sometimes unauthorized extraction of underground aquifers for agricultural and industrial uses as one of the reasons for the disappearance of these aquifers.
On the other hand, the uncontrolled and unexplored construction of dams, which has caused changes in the ecosystem and the drying up of wetlands, has been called one of Iran's wrong water management policies.
Source: Voice of America
