Water scarcity in Iran

Iran is expected to have a mean temperature increase of 2.6 °C and a 35% decrease in precipitation within the next few decades.[6] This could potentially exacerbate current drought and crop production issues.

Iran is an arid and drought prone country with increasing vulnerability to this natural hazard. Water scarcity and drought issues are among the biggest challenges facing the country.The severity of drought episodes during 1999 to 2001 was immense as it affected to varying degrees 26 provinces and over half the population of the country.[7]

Internal renewable water resources are estimated at 89 billion cubic meters (BCM)/year[9] As a result of previous droughts and overexploitation of available water resources, the per capita water availability has been reduced to 1100 m3/year today with 85 million inhabitants .Surface runoff represents a total of 97.3 BCM/year, of which 5.4 BCM/year comes from drainage of the aquifers and thus needs to be subtracted from the total. Groundwater recharge is estimated at about 49.3 BCM/year, of which 12.7 BCM/year is obtained from infiltration in the river bed and also needs to be subtracted. Iran receives 6.7 BCM/year of surface water from Pakistan and some water from Afghanistan through the Helmand River. The flow of the Arax river, at the border with Azerbaijan, is estimated at 4.6 BCM/year. The surface runoff to the sea and to other countries is estimated at 55.9 BCM/year.[10][11] Per capita, water availability in the pre-Islamic Revolution era was about 4,500 cubic meters. In 2009, this figure was less than 2,000 cubic meters.[12]

Si-o-se-pol in night while Zayanderud is dried

The total water withdrawal was estimated at about 70 BCM in 1993, rising to 96 BCM in 2018,[13] of which 92% was used for agricultural purposes, 6% for domestic use and 2% for industrial use. Although this is equal to 51% of the actual available renewable water resources, annual abstraction from aquifers (57 BCM in 1993, 53 BCM in 2004) is already more than the estimated safe yield (46 BCM).[10] Of the 4.3 BCM/year in 1993 (6.2 in 2004) used for domestic purposes, 61% is supplied from surface water and 39% from groundwater.[14] For example, Greater Tehran with its population of more than 13 million is supplied by surface water from the Lar dam on the Lar River in the Northeast of the city, the Latyan dam on the Jajrood River in the North, the Karaj River in the Northwest, as well as by groundwater in the vicinity of the city. Provinces of Gilan, Mazandaran and Isfahan have the highest efficiency of irrigation with 54, 52 and 42 percents respectively, and Khuzestan province has the lowest irrigation efficiency with 38 percent.[12] Tap water consumption in the country is 70% over and above the global average.[15] 16 BCM of water was used for power generation in 1999.[13]

As of 2014, Iran is using 70% of its total renewable freshwater, far above the upper limit of 40% recommended according to international norms.[16]

About 2,500 years ago, Iranians invented a number of ways to use groundwater, including a water management system called qanat. The qanats, which are still used today, are a series of underground tunnels and wells that transport underground water to the surface. They supply about 7.6 billion cubic meters or 15% of the country's total water needs and play an important role in advanced water harvesting. However, many of these systems have been abandoned and replaced by other methods over the past few decades, mainly due to socio-economic conditions and changing water extraction technology. In addition, the drilling of deeper and shallower wells has damaged the quality of groundwater, especially in the coastal area of the Central Plain of Iran, which has consequences for the environment, people, and economy of Iran. Therefore, it is necessary to recommend and implement methods to increase the efficiency of qanats to achieve sustainable development in water resources management.[17]

Water pollution is caused by industrial and municipal wastewater, as well as by agriculture. Concerning municipal wastewater, the bulk of collected sewage is discharged untreated and constitutes a major source of groundwater pollution and a risk to public health. In a number of cities without sanitary sewerage, households discharge their sewage through open rainwater drains .[18]

Some analysts believe the water crisis may have been a significant contributor to the protests around January 2018. At least five protesters were allegedly shot in January 2018 in Qahderijan, where water rights were reportedly the main grievances. As of March 2018, small and intermittent water protests have continued to occur in some rural areas.[23][24] In July 2021, people in Khuzestan Province took to the streets to protest water shortages.[25]

There have been massive protests in Susengerd, a city of 120,000 people and the industrial city of Shush (ancient Shush). There were also demonstrations in the city of Ahvaz, the capital of Khuzestan, and dozens of other places.[26]

Since holding demonstrations against the water shortage crisis in Iran in the summer of 2021, the government has become extremely defenseless against the water shortage and has faced internal tensions and pressures.[27] Short-sighted policies of the government in the field of solving the water problem have been very harmful and have been accompanied by population growth and global warming. In this way, there are more pressures to access water in several Iranian cities and the depth of the problem has gradually deepened.[28]