Water behind Iran's dams "only provides enough for the autumn season"

The director general of the country's Water Information and Data Office says that the water behind Iran's dams is "only enough for the fall season."

Firuz Ghasemzadeh added on Sunday, October 8, that rainfall has decreased by 37 percent compared to last year, and only 39 percent of our dam reservoirs across the country are full.

According to him, the capacity of Iran's dams' reserves is 50 billion cubic meters and their current reserves are 19 billion cubic meters, of which only half of this figure, equivalent to 9.5 billion cubic meters, is usable, and the rest of the reserves are not in proper quality conditions.

He stated: "Due to the forecast of low rainfall in the fall season, this figure could be worrisome."

Houshang Jezzi, Director General of the National Watershed Management and Soil Conservation Office, has also said that in recent years, resource management has been limited to blocking rivers and collecting water, while in the same dam construction, the lack of attention to upstream areas has caused rivers and wetlands to dry up and soil to enter the dam reservoirs, making them unusable; so much so that 250 million cubic meters of soil has entered the reservoirs of our dams.

He said that in years with high rainfall, we suffer losses due to floods and lack of water storage, and in years with low rainfall, we suffer from drought, which is largely due to a lack of timely action and management and oversight shortcomings.

This fall, unlike previous years when the country was constantly facing gas shortages, the crisis of electricity and water shortages has also added to the problems.

On Sunday, Iranian Oil Minister Javad Oji again announced a daily deficit of 200 million cubic meters of gas and the need to use a large volume of diesel fuel in power plants.

Source: Radio Farda