Iran in crisis as major drought forces regime to cut off water to Tehran, consider evacuation
Iran is facing its worst drought in decades. If there is no rain by December, Tehran’s 10 million inhabitants may be forced to evacuate.
Iran is set to turn off the water in several regions, including Tehran — as the country falls into the grips of its worst drought in decades.
The Islamic Republic announced it would be shutting off its water supply on Saturday night due to the mounting crisis which will see the capital dry up — with officials contemplating evacuating it, Haaretz reported.
“We are forced to cut off water supply to citizens on some evenings so that reservoirs can refill,” Energy Minister Abbas Alibadi said on state television on Saturday.
Mr Alibadi suggested that Iranians install pumps to compensate for the lack of pressure and supply gaps.
“This will help avoid waste even though it may cause inconvenience,” Mr Alibadi said, France24 reported.
President Masoud Pezehkian, in an address broadcast on Friday, warned that if there is no rain by December, Tehran’s roughly 10 million inhabitants may be forced to evacuate to other parts of the country, according to the outlet.
There were no additional announcements explaining when and how those potential mass evacuations would take place.
Tehran uses upwards of 790 million gallons (3 billion litres) of water per day, France24 reported.
Iran’s Amir Kabir dam, one of five reservoirs serving Tehran, currently holds 3.6 billion gallons (13.6 billion litres) of water while it held more than six times that amount during the same time last year, the outlet reported.
Pipes in some provinces have already started running dry, according to the outlet.
Iranian officials were aware of the drought conditions in the Middle Eastern nation as far back as July, when Mr Alibadi reported a 31 per cent drop in rainfall, Iran Focus reported.
Half of Iran’s 31 provinces have not seen rainfall in several months, according to France24.
The terrorist-supportive regime was negotiating importing water from neighbouring countries Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, according to that report.
Iran resides in a subtropical dry belt characterised by many mountains and desert, according to global research group World Data.
Central Iran receives less than 4 inches (10 centimetres) of rain per year on average, according to that data.
This article originally appeared on NY Post and was reproduced with permission
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Originally published as Iran in crisis as major drought forces regime to cut off water to Tehran, consider evacuation
