Head of Iran’s Environmental Organization: Water War Has Reached Villages from Provinces

The head of Iran’s Environmental Organization, referring to the expansion of water resources crisis in Iran, stated: “Water war has begun between provinces” and this war “is spreading from province to province and from village to village”.

Isa Kalantari, who spoke on Monday, May 17, at a scientific meeting related to environmental policies in Iran, named provinces including “Isfahan, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, Yazd, Khuzestan and Lorestan” as areas experiencing water conflicts.

However, in recent months, some Iranian government officials, citing decreased rainfall in 2020 and its continuation in the current year, have warned about drought, stating that the water situation in villages across different regions of Iran is facing greater crises.

Ismail Najar, head of the Crisis Management Organization, announced on April 6 that drinking water was being supplied via tanker trucks to seven thousand villages with over 20 households across the country.

Officials of the Ministry of Agriculture Jihad, also referring to a 40 percent decrease in rainfall in the country in 2020, announced that by the end of last year, only four provinces had normal precipitation.

Isa Kalantari also stated in his speech today that of the country’s rivers, only two rivers, Karun and Sefid Rood, are alive and reach their destinations, and “20 billion cubic meters” of water is being over-extracted annually from natural resources and groundwater.

He predicted that by 2041, in the lands surrounding the Zagros Mountains and south of the Alborz range to the southern seas and eastern borders, “there will be no trace of agriculture” and Iran’s nature “has become a victim of the country’s macro policies.”

The head of Iran’s Environmental Organization, criticizing policies such as self-sufficiency that lead to plundering and violation of resources, stated: “The country is being erased” and “officials of the past 40 years” should be held accountable for destroying nature.

Previously, Mostafa Fadaifard, a member of Iran’s National Committee of Large Dams, had said that Iran has passed through the water crisis and reached “water bankruptcy,” but the country’s officials are not aware of this situation.

According to this expert, the average rainfall in Iran is approximately one-third of the global average, and the rate of water evaporation in Iran is approximately three times the global average, with the significant part of existing crises in Iran resulting from mismanagement.

A 2019 assessment by the “World Resources Institute” shows that Iran is at the forefront of countries facing an “extraordinary crisis” in water and has reached the edge of “Doomsday,” that is, a day when water resources may be depleted. This report had placed Iran in the fourth rank of countries closest to “Doomsday.”

Water scarcity and water transfer projects in some Iranian provinces have repeatedly led to gatherings and subsequent clashes between people and security forces in recent years.

For instance, in March 2019, farmers in the Varzaneh region east of Isfahan repeatedly held protests and gatherings in protest against water scarcity and the non-allocation of water rights.

During these protests, some farmers attended Friday prayers and, while turning their backs to the position of the Friday prayer leader, strongly criticized Iranian government policies and chanted: “Back to the enemy – face to the nation.”

Following that, protest gatherings regarding water scarcity were held in Borazjan, the center of Dasht Azadegan county in Bushehr province, in the Kazerun area of Fars province, the Yasouj region in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province, and Saman city in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province.

In another case, during 2016 clashes in Baldaji county in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province due to protests against a water transfer project, a number of farmers were arrested and one person lost his life.

Following this incident, a court in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province sentenced 76 farmers protesting the water transfer plan to four months in prison and 30 lashes each.

Source: Radio Farda