Environmental experts: Mismanagement and wrong decisions have fueled the water shortage crisis in Iran

The Isfahan protests began about three weeks ago, initially by Isfahan farmers, and gradually spread across social classes and groups.

But the water shortage crisis is not unique to Isfahan, and some other parts of Iran are also facing the same problem, and protests about it are continuing. For example, in Khuzestan, where farmers in the Bavi city of Ahvaz began their protests on Saturday against the cutting off of water to agricultural lands and the reduction of rights to the Karun River.

Hundreds of farmers from Bavi County, Ahvaz, with 17,000 hectares of agricultural land, have gathered in the city for the umpteenth time in recent months, demanding that local authorities immediately provide water for the month of Azar, which they say is the most crucial month for growing crops in the Khuzestan Plain.

Hamed Hamidbawi, head of the Bavi Agricultural Association, said: "If water does not arrive, we fear a disaster will occur in this area."

Nasser Abiyat, an environmental activist from Khuzestan, also says: "The lack of public protest has prevented the Ministry of Energy from opening the dam gates to farmers. These clashes have led many farmers in this region to gather."

Environmental expert Esmaeil Kahrom said in an interview with the Persian service of the Voice of America: "We have made wrong decisions for years, more than fifty years, about the water of Khuzestan, about the water of Isfahan, about the water of Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, and Yazd, and we cannot resolve these issues in the short term."

Mr. Kahrom added that farmers only want water for autumn planting, "meaning they say that our autumn planting is waiting for this water that you give us so that we can do our autumn planting, and once we harvest, we don't need any more water, any more water." But on the other hand, there is no more water left.

According to experts, the Islamic Republic's mismanagement of watersheds and food self-sufficiency policy, as well as the unplanned increase in population, have fueled the long-standing challenge of the water crisis in Iran.

They say that the policy of "putting off solving problems for tomorrow" has expired in Iran, and if a fundamental solution is not found, Iran must be prepared to face catastrophic crises.

Source: Voice of America