Officials warn residents may need to evacuate major city amid escalating crisis: ‘Unprecedented in modern times’
As the calendar approached mid-December, it finally rained in Tehran, the capital of Iran. But this may not be enough to prevent evacuations due to fears of running out of water in a metropolis of about 15 million people.
What’s going on?
Before it rained on December 10, President Masoud Pezeshkian warned that Tehran residents “may have to evacuate” as Iran suffered its sixth consecutive drought.
Kaveh Madani, director of the Institute for Water, Environment and Health at the United Nations University, described the intensity of the drought as “unprecedented in modern times”: reported From CNN.
While there was a water outage for hours in some neighborhoods, the important water reservoir of the Latyan Dam 10% fullAccording to the Associated Press.
Why is Iran’s water crisis important?
The reasons behind Iran’s water crisis are multifaceted.
As CNN and AP detailed, years of excessive water consumption (policies enacted after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, when then-Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini promised free water to everyone) and growing water-intensive crops played a significant role. More than 90% of Iran’s water goes to agriculture.
Sanctions to some extent connected The regime’s nuclear and missile programs, human rights violations and support for terrorism also played a role. Iranian-American and my senior friend Washington Institute Holly Dagres detailed in an article how many Iranians think the water crisis is caused by the regime’s “systemic mismanagement and corruption.”
Changing climate triggered by pollution coal, oil and gas It also affects the weather in the region. Although “all extreme events have more than one cause” National Oceanic and Atmospheric AdministrationWarmer global temperatures are further amplifying them, making them more powerful and destructive.
What is being done about Iran’s water crisis?
As rain fell in Tehran following Pezeshkian’s warning in November, Iran Meteorological Organization official Ahad Vazifeh said he expected a rain shortage “even if rain is normal in winter and spring,” according to the AP.
The government tried “cloud seeding” to increase rainfall. While cloud seeding has been blamed for flooding in multiple regions, scientists have regularly debunked this theory, and a recent study shows that cloud seeding may have only a limited effect on precipitation.
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