On Friday, August 2, farmers from eastern Isfahan once again gathered to protest the closure of the Zayandeh-Rud River. They continued their protest by parking tractors and setting up tents, emphasizing that they have not yet received any response from the authorities.
Videos and reports show that on Friday, Isfahan farmers continued their protest, demanding the reopening of the Zayandeh-Rud River.
The farmers’ gathering in Isfahan started on July 27 in Khorasgan Square of the city.
On July 30, they also protested the lack of agricultural water rights by setting up tents and parking their tractors in Khorasgan Square, demanding their needs be addressed.
Protests by Isfahan farmers over the dry Zayandeh-Rud River and unmet water rights for the province have made headlines repeatedly in recent years.
The protesting farmers believe that Isfahan’s water rights are being allocated to other cities.
In March 2024, they also held a protest near the Abshar Dam due to the closure of the Zayandeh-Rud River affecting their lands.
Earlier, on July 14, Reza Haji-Karim, a member of the Water Industry Confederation, stated, “In the water sector, the largest consumer is the poorest, unable to invest. Despite 90% of the country’s water being used in agriculture, farmers face livelihood issues and significant difficulties in securing water for current cultivation.”
Isfahan is one of the most critical provinces in Iran concerning water shortage problems.
The people of this province have repeatedly gathered and protested against the Iranian regime’s mismanagement in solving this problem.
In some cases, these protests have met with violent and deadly responses from the Iranian regime’s security forces.
In 2012, news of the first-time breaking of water transfer pipes from Isfahan to Yazd indicated the depth of a crisis that has intensified in the following years.
The latest reports from the Parliamentary Research Center, published in July 2024, showed that Iran’s average rainfall is only one-third of the global average, and the water evaporation rate is three times the global average.
According to this report, the water crisis in Iran, which has become one of the country’s main challenges in recent years, continued into the winter of 2024.
Mehdi Taghiani, a representative of Isfahan in parliament, stated on March 27 that land subsidence in Isfahan has reached a very dangerous level. He told Khabar Online, “If a solution for the dryness of the Zayandeh-Rud River and the resulting subsidence is not found, we all have to leave Isfahan. He added, “Under these conditions, this civilization will not survive.”
