Iranian officials warned on Thursday that water rationing could soon begin in several major cities, including Tehran, Mashhad and Isfahan, as dam levels fall to their lowest in decades amid a sixth consecutive year of severe drought.
The capital’s main reservoirs, including the Amir Kabir (Karaj) Dam, now hold less than 15 million cubic meters of water -- enough for less than two weeks of supply, authorities said.
Officials described Tehran’s surface water reserves as being in a “red and fragile” state, with no rainfall recorded since the start of the new water year in late September.
“The reservoirs supplying Tehran are now at their lowest levels in 60 years, a situation we have never experienced before. Surface water resources are in a red and extremely fragile state,” said Mohsen Ardakani, head of Tehran’s Water and Wastewater Company.
“We are in a highly sensitive and risky phase,” Ardakani said. “Only through collective cooperation and at least 10 percent additional savings in water consumption can we prevent the capital from entering a state of absolute crisis.”
In Mashhad, officials said plans for regional water rationing were under review after many emergency wells ran dry.
The city’s governor, Hassan Hosseini, said on Thursday that nighttime water cuts were also being considered and that completing ongoing transfer projects, such as the pipeline from the Hezar Masjed Mountains, required urgent funding of 50 trillion rials – about $46 million.
In central Iran, Isfahan city council head Mohammad Noursalehi warned late last month that the region could face a drinking water crisis “within 45 days” unless non-potable uses are curtailed and delayed transfer projects are completed.
The Zayandehrud Dam, which supplies over five million people in Isfahan and neighboring provinces, is at 13% capacity, raising concerns about both water shortages and land subsidence across the historic city.
Environmental experts say years of over-extraction, unscientific dam-building and poor management have pushed the country toward what some describe as “water bankruptcy.”
The meteorological organization forecasts no significant rainfall for the rest of November, leaving officials bracing for one of the most severe water crises Iran has faced in more than half a century.
