Deputy Minister of Energy's report on the catastrophic water situation in Iran

The Deputy Minister of Energy criticized the mismanagement of water in Iran. According to him, about 76 percent of the country's water resources have been consumed and it is not easy to compensate for this shortage.

Rahim Meydani, Deputy Minister of Energy, stated in his speech: "Water and the environment have suffered serious damage in Iran."

Speaking at the "International Water Conference" at the University of Tehran on Saturday (December 4), he first reminded that "our country is a water-scarce country" and then added: "We are facing problems outside of nature that we have created ourselves."

The Deputy Minister of Energy warns: "The main problem is that we have used surface and underground resources beyond the ecological capacity."

In expressing this insufficiency, he explained: "If we consider the use of more than 60 percent of water resources as the maximum use of water resources for each country, we have used about 76 percent of these water resources, which is a disaster."

The official considered a 40 percent utilization rate of water resources to be the best case scenario, but acknowledged that reaching this limit is impossible with today's facilities. "We have set a target of reaching about 69 percent," he said.

Pollution of water resources

In addition to the reduction in water reserves, the Deputy Minister of Energy identified the pollution of water resources as another problem of water scarcity. He said that this situation has arisen “due to the discharge of industrial and domestic wastewater.”

Referring to the example of the Karun River, he stated: "A river that was once the most important source of drinking water for people is no longer available for drinking water today."