So What Happens When Rivers Dry Up? The Growing Issue of Water Scarcity in Iran

May 31, 2021 Donia Elmansy

Pictured here is a portion of the Karun River dried up in the city of Ahvaz in Iran // Photo taken by Hadi Jafarzadeh

By Donia Elmansy

May 31, 2021

For most people in the US water is a normal part of life. They turn on the faucet and water appears without them giving it much thought. However, for people in many different countries water scarcity has been an increasingly difficult and pressing issue. Specifically, the Middle East as a region has been experiencing low water supply due to lack of precipitation and decreasing freshwater resources. Around 66% of the region’s population live in areas without sufficient access to renewable water resources. Additionally, 60% of the Middle Eastern population have water needs that exceed availability, compared to a global average of 35%. Water scarcity is exaggerated by conflicts over water allocation in resources and bodies of water that cross country boundaries. Policymaking has traditionally focused on how to increase water exploitation rather than how to ensure efficient management of those resources.

One particular country where water scarcity has been steadily posing a greater threat for its residents is Iran. As the summer season kicks in, it is expected that Iran, like the rest of the region, will get very little rain. Water supplies have been decreasing year after year as no substantial infrastructural work is done to address the problem. Water scarcity in Iran comes with electricity cuts due to the fact that 25% of power generation comes from hydroelectric sources which include dams that are only half full. Specifically, this past winter and spring have brought 50% less rain than the previous year resulting in even more power cuts. Due to the online nature of most education this past year, these electricity cuts have come at extreme costs to students and teachers alike. The government has been criticized for not wisely managing the already existing water resources in Iran. Economic reports coming from local news agencies say that the city of Tehran alone needs around $30 billion to get out of this water crisis. However, with a growing population of 8.5 million, Iran’s government has not dictated the water crisis to be a financial priority.

Additionally, the Karun River in the southwest region of the country is responsible for irrigating thousands of farmlands but has dried up in the city of Ahvaz due to salinization, which is salting of the water. This salinization is believed to be induced by humans through wrongful building of dams and improper drainage. Water scarcity is also directly related to Iran’s agricultural products. For a long time, Iran has been producing and exporting rice which needs an especially large amount of water per kilogram farmed. This has been due to the economic benefits of rice in comparison to other crops but has led to the greater depletion of water resources as a side effect. Small decisions such as these by the Agricultural Ministry have accumulated over a long period of time and have led the problem of water scarcity to remain unaddressed and to rise to greater heights.

Although a grim situation, the escalation of the water crisis has led to more citizen awareness. There are now calls for the government to focus more energy and resources on building new sustainable water management systems. There are also calls to the Ministry of Energy to implement a plan to educate the Iranian population about the dangerous effects of this water crisis. Those who are affluent and live in the big cities waste water by taking long showers and leaving hoses running while those in rural areas have had to experience the effects of water shutoffs firsthand. However, if nothing is done soon those living in the cities will be just as equally affected, and will likely also start pushing for the government to take action.

In addition to awareness as a reason for hope, big technology companies have begun to shift their attention to this growing problem. One company in particular named Pani Energy has been focusing on creating an artificial intelligence system that can shrink the energy costs associated with water treatment plants. They teamed up with a company named Aquatech, who is the global provider of desalination, to reduce those energy costs. CEO Bharadwaj explains the thinking behind this, saying, “By leveraging existing data, systems, and people paired with machine learning techniques, current desalination technologies can be lifted to new standards of efficiency – making water less expensive to produce and delivering affordable, climate resilient water to people and communities in water stressed regions” (Zerrouk, 2021).

The water scarcity issue extends beyond Iran and beyond the Middle East, so it is crucial that people start paying attention to this global problem and its drastic consequences. Water scarcity has led to problems of insecurity and displacement for millions of people. This is why it is so important for resources, such as AI and new technology, to continue to be directed towards finding a solution. For those living outside of countries that have water shortages it is essential to stay educated. This can be as simple as reading articles about what is happening in Iran and elsewhere and raising awareness. Some sites such as waterworld.com and smartwatermagazine.com are great ways to keep up with environmental issues having to do with water. A lot of the time these issues are branded as long-term and not worthy of making the headline news, which is why it is all the more important to actively seek this information out.

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