After the spokesperson of the Expediency Discernment Council announced that some areas of Tehran could reach “Day Zero” for water supply in the coming days, Isa Bozorgzadeh, the spokesperson for Iran’s water industry, denied the claim, stating that if water consumption savings continue, the crisis will be “managed acceptably.”
On Tuesday, August 12, Iranian media quoted Bozorgzadeh as denying the “Day Zero” for Tehran report, stating that water consumption management in Tehran improved by 13% in July and by over 14% so far in August.
According to Bozorgzadeh, if there is an additional 12% reduction in water consumption in Tehran, the water crisis will be acceptably managed.
Prior to Bozorgzadeh’s remarks, Mohsen Dehnavi, spokesperson of the Expediency Discernment Council, wrote in several posts on X that the water crisis in Tehran has surpassed the warning stage and entered a critical phase.
He emphasized: “If this trend continues, some parts of the capital could reach Day Zero in the coming weeks—a day when drinking water will be cut off in many neighborhoods, disrupting the daily lives of millions of citizens and causing major social and economic consequences.”
At the same time as Dehnavi’s warning, with the continuation of the heatwave and ongoing water and electricity cuts in Iran, regime officials once again decided to impose widespread shutdowns and reduce working hours in government offices across various provinces.
According to statements issued by the governors’ offices of several provinces on Monday, August 11, these reduced working hours and closures will take place on Tuesday and Wednesday, August 12 and 13, due to the “rising temperatures” and with the aim of “controlling energy consumption.”
The governors’ offices of provinces including Semnan and Kurdistan announced shorter working hours for government offices and banks on August 12. According to the announcements, in some provinces government offices will operate remotely.
Water crisis, lack of management
The spokesperson of the Expediency Discernment Council continued in his post on X: “Five consecutive years of drought, excessive extraction from underground resources, the rapid growth of urban consumption, and structural weaknesses in management have brought the reserves of the main dams to a dangerous level.”
Dehnavi, himself a senior regime official, stressed that this crisis is the result of years of “negligence, disregard for sustainable infrastructure, and blatant mismanagement of vital resources, the country’s future, and future generations.”
These issues have been raised for years by critics of the regime’s governance from various platforms, but the authorities have usually responded harshly, subjecting critics to security and judicial crackdowns.
Meanwhile, amid the water and energy crisis in Iran, the Water Resources Management Company reported that a total of 58% of the country’s dam reservoirs are empty.
According to this report, in 26 large dams across the country, over 75% of reservoir capacity is empty.
Masoud Pezeshkian, president of the Iranian regime, also warned: “We have no water. There is no water under our feet, nor behind the dams.”
Dehnavi described the way out of this situation as “strict conservation policies, renovation of aging networks, industrial consumption control, and smart resource management,” stressing: “Real participation of the people, the scientific community, and the private sector in practical projects, along with the use of new technologies, is essential to saving Tehran from this historic and environmental crisis.”
