Firooz Ghasemzadeh, Director General of the Office of Water Information and Data, said on Wednesday the decline is due to drastically reduced rainfall and record-high temperatures.
“Rainfall this year has dropped by 38% relative to the long-term average, placing it 56th out of the past 57 years,” he noted.b
This persistent drought has led to a sharp drop in river and spring flows, as well as a significant reduction in groundwater recharge, he added. As a result, pressure on existing water reserves has increased considerably.
Currently, Iran’s dam reservoirs are filled to only 52% of their capacity, 22% lower than the same period last year, with no significant rainfall expected for the remainder of the water year.
Major dams in provinces such as Tehran, Isfahan, Razavi Khorasan, Qom, Hormozgan, Zanjan, Kerman, and Markazi are in critical condition.
