Alireza Daemi, Deputy Head of Iran’s ABFA Organization, predicts a long-time water crisis for Islamic Republic in near future.
“During the recent years, annual precipitation has been decreased by 75% in most regions of country. Massive droughts have consequently hit numerous areas in Iran, and this has led to many problems. Currently, the Ministry of Power of Iran is struggling to provide the necessary water to residents of several provinces.” Alireza Daemi addressed a seminar on Tuesday.
He went on to say that Iran’s strategic cities are also affected by droughts. “Even important cities of Iran are suffering from lack of rains. A large percentage of Iranians are living in affected regions. This element will increase the costs of Iran’s next governments for providing and transferring water to affected provinces.”
“In order to solve these problems, Iran has proposed an international plan to cope with droughts in Asian and Middle Eastern countries. International organizations have previously predicted new types of wars in South Asian and Middle Eastern countries over water resources. Governments of Middle East must take strict measures with regard to future water crisis.” Alireza Daemi concluded.
Iranian government has started several projects in order to transfer water from oceans and seas to Iran’s most dry provinces and cities. Recently, the government launched a new project to transfer Persian Gulf water to Fars province. Accordingly, Iran’s government has allocated some $400 million budget to this plan.
It is worth mentioning that the eastern and central basins of Iran are arid, with less than 200 mm (7.9 in) of rain, and have occasional deserts.