As Iran’s energy crisis intensifies, a new report reveals that the water reserves in 19 of the country’s major reservoir dams have dropped to below 20%.
On Sunday, August 3, Iranian media published statistics showing that from the beginning of the water year to August 2, only 23.26 billion cubic meters of water have flowed into Iran’s dams.
This figure reflects a 42% decrease compared to the 40.2 billion cubic meters recorded during the same period last year.
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Currently, there are around 22.02 billion cubic meters of stored water in the country’s dams, yet 57% of total dam capacity remains empty.
The situation is even worse for the major dams that supply drinking and agricultural water.
According to reports, more than 80% of the storage capacity of 19 major and vital dams in Iran is empty.
Among these dams, 16 are classified as being in a “red” status, with water reserves ranging from 0% to 15%.
Shamil and Niyan dams in Hormozgan are at 0%. The combined reserves of the Golestan and Boostan dams in Golestan Province stand at 1%, Rudbal in Fars Province also has 1%, Esteghlal Dam in Hormozgan has 4%, and both Lar in Tehran and Doosti in Razavi Khorasan have 6%.
Other dams on this red list are located in provinces such as Gilan, Kerman, Zanjan, Baluchestan, Markazi, and South Khorasan.
The water levels behind Amir Kabir (Karaj), Lar, and Latian dams have reached their lowest points in modern history.
This represents a state of water bankruptcy, with irreversible damages.
On August 3, Mohsen Biglari, a member of parliament from Saqqez and Baneh, reminded the chamber that the country’s drinking water needs are less than 10%, and addressing regime president Masoud Pezeshkian, said: “It is not fitting for any government to be unable to manage such a small amount of drinking water to prevent its people from facing hardship.”
Mohammadreza Rezaei Koochi, head of the parliament’s Construction Commission, also stressed that due to the “lack of proper forecasting by the Ministry of Energy,” Tehran is now facing a serious shortage of drinking water.
According to Rezaei Koochi, the rise in population and rainfall patterns had made this situation foreseeable, but proper planning was not carried out.
The MP said the Ministry of Energy is attempting to solve Tehran’s problem by transferring water from dams in neighboring towns but added: “This is not a fundamental solution.”
Abbas Keshavarz, research deputy of the National Water Studies Center at Iran’s Chamber of Commerce, also told the state-run ILNA news agency that the situation had been trackable since the start of spring. He added: “Why were no measures taken in March and April, and now we have reached a crisis?”
He described the situation as “a strategic failure in water policy and management.”
