![\"Water-Scarcity-Iran-1\"](\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/04\/Water-Scarcity-Iran-1.jpg\" "\\"Water-Scarcity-Iran-1\\"")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
NCRI Staff<\/p>\n
NCRI –\u00a0With Iran\u2019s water scarcity already in a critical state, it\u2019s quite likely that the crisis will get even worse in many parts of the country as the summer is getting closer, so much so that Rouhani\u2019s government officials have now gone beyond speaking of water scarcity and are explicitly warning over a water stress the country is going to be faced with.<\/p>\n
Statistics, figures and projections<\/strong><\/p>\n According to Rouhani\u2019s Energy Minister \u2018Reza Ardakanian\u2019, 334 cities across the country will be water-stressed this summer. With a total 35 million people, the cities account for nearly half the country\u2019s population.<\/p>\n \u201cBased on our studies, 165 cities with a total population of 10.5 million are on a yellow level, 62 cities with 6.8 million are on an orange level, and 107 cities with 17.2 million will be on a red level. Overall, 334 cities will be water-stressed\u201d, says Ardakanian. (State-run Mardomsalari newspaper, April 22, 2018)<\/p>\n Isfahan and Sistan and Baluchestan provinces will experience water stress<\/strong><\/p>\n Isfahan province\u2019s Zayandehroud dam will be running out of water by the end of July, according to state-run Alef website on April 20, 2018.<\/p>\n \u201cFive million people in Isfahan province will be without drinking water from August. This is an emergency situation\u201d, says regime\u2019s MP Haji-deligani. (Regime\u2019s Radio-Farhang, April 8, 2018)<\/p>\n The Iranian regime is concerned about staying in power, not people\u2019s drinking water<\/strong><\/p>\n Ahmad Hamzeh, also a regime\u2019s MP, meanwhile says \u201cif Kerman\u2019s drinking water crisis is not going to be dealt with, people will take to the streets. Farmers in Southern Kerman are out of water. For god\u2019s sake, do something about it and resolve the crisis.\u201d (Regime\u2019s Radio-Farhang, April 8, 2018)<\/p>\n In an article titled \u201cNorth Khorasan\u2019s rural areas are subject to a gradual death\u201c, the website belonging to the so-called Khorasan\u2019s Cultural Organization on April 22, 2018, writes \u201cdirector of North Khorasan\u2019s Rural Water and Wastewater Organization has announced that 159 villages in the province will suffer water scarcity this summer. Besides, some cities will also be affected. For example, Shiravan in North Khorasan province is one of the cities that\u2019s been dealing with water crisis in the past few years.\u201d<\/p>\n Also state-run Tasnim news agency on April 22, 2018, points to the issue with an article titled \u201cwater stress in Kohgiluyeh and Boyerahmad is serious\u201d, writing \u201csix cities in the province, including Yasuj, Likak, Dishmuk, Sough, Basht, and Madavan are currently experiencing water-stressed conditions, with the situation in these and even other cities across the province expected to get worse with increase in temperatures and water consumption.\u201d<\/p>\n Depth of the crisis<\/strong><\/p>\n According to expert projections, if the water crisis continues to remain, people in Iran\u2019s central provinces will be left with no drinking water in 20 years, so that they\u2019ll have to immigrate to stay alive.\u201d<\/p>\n Head of regime\u2019s Department of Environment \u2018Isa Kalantari\u2019 meanwhile says \u201cif we fail to resolve the water crisis, 50 million Iranians will have to leave the country in the next 25 years; an immigration that\u2019s going to have dreadful consequences, in such a way that we may no longer have a country called Iran.\u201d(State-run Aftab website, September 18, 2016)<\/p>\n \u201cno enemy would have treated the country\u2019s natural resources and environment the way they\u2019ve been treated over the past years\u201d, acknowledges Kalantari.<\/p>\n The bitter irony, however, is that Kalantari himself has had a direct hand in the crisis. As regime\u2019s Agriculture Minister during Hashemi Rafsanjani\u2019s two terms in office as well as through the first three years of Mohammad Khatami\u2019s presidency, Kalantari has been directly responsible for the disaster with excessively building dams and issuing permits for digging water wells.<\/p>\n Now that the country is moving quickly towards a drought crisis, the regime has not only failed to do anything about it, but is also deteriorating the conditions with its policy of plundering the country\u2019s water resources. Who is responsible?<\/strong><\/p>\n In an article titled \u201cLet\u2019s stop the collapse: what would an Iran without water be like?\u201d, state-run Asr-e-Iran website writes \u201cif half the efforts the officials have put into filtering social networks and messengers was dedicated to water, then today we wouldn\u2019t be faced with an issue called water crisis.\u201d (State-run Asr-e-Iran website, April 19, 2018)<\/p>\n The last word<\/strong><\/p>\n To resolve a crisis, its roots should be identified and dealt with. Pursuing the policy of building non-expert dams and digging deep water wells by the anti-people mullahs\u2019 regime and its predatory organs, including the Revolutionary Guards, is one of the major factors that has driven the country into a water scarcity and drought crisis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" NCRI Staff NCRI – With Iran’s water scarcity already in a critical state, it’s quite likely that the crisis will get even worse in many parts of the country as the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":51101,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[178],"class_list":{"0":"post-24677","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-society","8":"tag-save"},"yoast_head":"\n![\"Water-Scarcity-Iran-2\"](\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/04\/Water-Scarcity-Iran-2.jpg\" "\\"Water-Scarcity-Iran-2\\"")
<\/p>\n![\"Water-Scarcity-Iran-3\"](\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/04\/Water-Scarcity-Iran-3.jpg\" "\\"Water-Scarcity-Iran-3\\"")
<\/p>\n
The clashes between regime\u2019s rival bands reveals however parts of the reality.<\/p>\n![\"Water-Scarcity-Iran-5\"](\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/04\/Water-Scarcity-Iran-5.JPG\" "\\"Water-Scarcity-Iran-5\\"")
<\/p>\n