Water in Iran crossed the crisis line

The resignation of representatives due to the water situation in their provinces reflects the critical water situation in Iran, a crisis that has been caused by mismanagement in the water sector over the last two decades and has put the water situation across the country in crisis.

In recent days, following the crisis in the water situation in Isfahan, representatives of the province resigned in order to receive concessions from the government. This resignation prompted the Speaker of the Parliament, Ali Larijani, to promise the representatives that the Isfahan water budget would be met, so they returned to the parliament.

Before the symbolic resignation of the Isfahan representatives in the final months of the year, at the beginning of the year, on April 15, Hossein Ali Mirahmadi, secretary of the Keshavarz House in Isfahan, had said that the water situation in Isfahan had crossed the threshold of crisis.

But the resignation of the Isfahan representatives and Ali Larijani’s search for a solution did not end the water crisis. When the Isfahan representatives returned to the parliament, the representatives of Khuzestan and Chaharmahal Bakhtiari gathered at the presidium of the parliament and demanded that their protests about the water situation in their provinces be addressed. They threatened that if the government gave concessions to Isfahan province, they would also resign.

The resignation of representatives due to the water situation in their provinces reflects the critical water situation in Iran, a crisis that has been caused by mismanagement in the water sector over the last two decades and has put the water situation across the country in crisis.

The Washington Post reported in July this year that Iran is facing a water crisis, blaming water management for a decade. The report stated that “Iran is heading towards a widespread water crisis, with few solutions to the problem that has persisted for a decade. Iranians consume 66 gallons of water per day, less than the average American, who consumes 105 gallons per day. But Iran and other Middle Eastern countries do not have the abundance of fresh water found in Europe and the United States.”

Unprincipled dam construction in Iran

The most important problem of dams in Iran is the phenomenon of erosion and accumulation of sediments in the reservoirs of dams, which reduces the life of dams and destroys national capital. In Iran, many dams and short dams have been built with non-engineering architecture. In some dams, due to dam overflow, sediment accumulation, use of inappropriate materials, and incorrect design of ancillary components, these dams and dams have been destroyed and remain unusable.

In some cases, there are also discrepancies with nature in the definition of dam goals, such as the Karaj Dam, which is dedicated to supplying water to Tehran, transferring water from the Karaj watershed to another location. Therefore, its adverse effects in the form of a drop in groundwater levels, a decrease in groundwater quality, and the intrusion of salt water into the Karaj plain downstream threaten to destroy the aquifer and turn the green areas of Shahriar and Karaj into deserts.

In the northern regions of Iran, there are conditions similar to those in Sri Lanka that present dam construction with various problems. These problems include the destruction of forests, damage to agricultural lands, flooding of villages and forced displacement of people, landslides, accumulation of sediment behind dams, and water pollution.

In dams in the south of the country, due to the low elevation of the region above sea level and the relatively high evaporation rate from the lake surface, as well as the entry of organic matter, rural wastewater, chemical fertilizers, and surface currents with high electrical conductivity (EC) and high salt into the lake, there is a possibility of stratification in the dam lake, which will reduce the quality of the lake water. Minab Dam is a clear example of water contamination.

The dam-building movement after the revolution

Dam construction has always been considered one of the most important engineering activities, so much so that residents of different regions have constructed various dams or reservoirs with different materials and specifications, depending on geographical conditions and needs.

In this regard, needs such as providing irrigation and water supply have been raised, or in some areas, due to low river water levels or the need to change the course of the river, dams have been built so that they can raise the water level and use it for agricultural and development needs.

Dam construction in Iran increased at an unprecedented rate in the years following the Islamic Revolution. Seven dams with a reservoir capacity of 2,275 million cubic meters were built after the revolution until 1988.

But despite the construction of dams, Iran has faced a water shortage crisis in recent years.

Dam construction for the purpose of storage and water supply was included in the country's development plan. 6 dams with a total reservoir volume of 1,046 million cubic meters and 16 dams with a total reservoir volume of 2,090 million cubic meters were constructed. However, in the third and fourth five-year periods, the dam construction movement in Iran reached its peak.

In the third five-year development plan, 35 dams were constructed with a total reservoir volume of 12,550 million cubic meters, and in the fourth five-year plan, 33 dams were constructed with a total reservoir volume of 7,529 million cubic meters. Between 1988 and 2008, a total of 97 dams were constructed and water was drawn off.

464 dams were under construction from 2015 to 2017, of which 388 dams have been put into operation. 378 dams were under construction between 2018 and 2025, of which 168 dams have been put into operation. However, 337 dams were under construction between 2006 and 2013, of which only 16 dams have been put into operation.

The dam-building movement in Iran continued during the 11th government, and between 2013 and 2017, 40 dams were reviewed and the goals of these dams changed, but a total of 30 dams were put into operation during the 11th government.

The total volume of the country's dam reservoirs from 1947 to 2013 was 123,442 million cubic meters, of which 48,454 million cubic meters were utilized. Between 2006 and 2013, the total volume of the water reservoir was 33,275 million cubic meters, of which 454 million cubic meters were utilized.

The volume of water reservoirs in 2017 was recorded at more than 23 billion cubic meters, with the amount of water used in dams at 8 billion 590 million cubic meters. The volume of water reservoirs decreased by 14 percent and the output of dams decreased by 7 percent compared to previous years.

This statistic shows the level of commitments made by governments in the discussion of water storage and supply policies over the past 40 years. It shows the extent to which governments have fulfilled their commitments in dam construction. In the ninth and tenth governments, the number of dams under construction exceeded 300, but only 16 dams have been put into operation.

Dam water reduction

Of the 100 dams that supply the main part of water in Iran, 52 dams in the country currently have less than 40 percent of the total reservoir capacity. 28 dams in the country have 50 to 70 percent of the total reservoir filled with water, and 20 dams have between 40 and 50 percent of the reservoir volume. 25 dams have between 90 and 100 percent of the total reservoir, and 28 dams have between 70 and 90 percent of the water. In total, 35 percent of dams have less than 40 percent of the water. According to the latest statistics, until 2017, nearly 50 percent of the country's dam reservoirs were full, but currently only 41 percent of the country's dams are full and 59 percent of the country's dams are empty.

The results obtained from the annual evaporation volume from the lake surface of the country's operating dams show that the total annual evaporation volume is equivalent to 2.02 billion cubic meters, which, considering the total volume of the reservoirs in operation of 5.32 billion cubic meters, about 6.2 percent of the water in the dams evaporates. However, a comparison of the evaporation rate and the useful volume of the reservoirs shows an evaporation of 8.4 percent. In the past few years, the water in the dams has faced a significant decrease in water, which has caused the water situation in Iran to become critical.

Not ignoring aqueducts and artificial feeding

Qanats were one of the most complex and ancient tools of Iranian civilization to deal with water shortages in ancient Iran. About 8 billion cubic meters of groundwater is still extracted through qanats across the country. According to some researchers, there are over 30,000 active qanats in Iran, which are responsible for supplying water to water-scarce parts of the country.

Qanats are considered to be a source of groundwater in arid and semi-arid regions of Iran. Two main factors are effective in reducing the water yield of qanats: one is the decline in groundwater levels and the other is the phenomenon of global climate change, the effects of which in Iran are manifested in the form of severe droughts and have been effective in exacerbating the decline in water levels and the deficit of groundwater reservoirs.

In recent years, due to the excessive use of groundwater, the lack of annual rainfall, and the lack of management and care of the aqueducts, the water flow of many of them has decreased. The groundwater level of the aqueducts is constantly fluctuating. One of the most important factors that causes the fluctuation of the groundwater level, especially its continuous decline, is the continuous over-withdrawal from the aqueducts.

Decrease in rainfall in Iran

While aridity is considered an indicator and characteristic of the climate of arid regions, drought is a phenomenon that originates from an unexpected decrease in precipitation over a certain period of time in an area that is not necessarily arid.

The extent of this decrease is such that it disrupts the normal growth process in the region and has immediate and detrimental effects on agriculture and long-term effects on water resources. By examining the amount of rainfall between 2008 and 2014, it can be seen that the rainfall situation has decreased significantly each year. The total height of atmospheric precipitation from the first of October to February of the 2016-2017 water year is 68 mm. This amount of rainfall is 36 percent less than the average for similar long-term periods and 50 percent less than the same period of the previous water year.

The water crisis index in Iran is far more unfavorable than the world average due to its location in the arid and semi-arid region of the world. On the other hand, the occurrence of intermittent and long droughts and high climatic fluctuations are the main factors of water shortage, especially surface water resources, which puts additional pressure on groundwater resources and causes desertification.

The government's policies in the past two decades in the field of water and dam construction have caused Iran to face a water crisis. In the meantime, the Islamic Republic is not only not yet making efforts to resolve this crisis, but instead of using specialized forces, it has adopted a security approach in this area.

Source: DW