Two rivers in Iran have been depleted by 70 percent compared with last summer, said the head of water affairs in central Lorestan province, Mohammad Taqi Tavakoli.
“The rivers Dez and Karkheh, both among major sources of water in southern and central Iran, have been depleted by 70 percent compared with last summer,” he told the official Iranian news agency, IRNA.
He said the rivers, which supply water to their namesake dams in southern Iran, could dry up completely in the fall if there was no rain.
The sharp depletion is unprecedented in the last 40 years, and comes during a dry spell that has hit Iran for the third year in a row.
Last year, drought cost the country $3.5 billion.
A UN official has put this year's loss at $2.5 billion, said IRNA.
Deputy Energy Minister Gholam-Reza Manouchehri said recently that water had been rationed in 30 cities in the southern, eastern and central provinces of Sistan Baluchestan, Isfahan, Fars, Bushehr, Kerman, Khorassan and Tehran.
Water has been rationed in 12 cities in Bushehr province, and in 10 cities in Sistan Baluchestan, as well as all cities in the desert areas of Kerman and Isfahan, he added.
Early this year, officials predicted that 12 of Iran's 28 provinces would be affected by a severe drought, including the capital Tehran, which started water rationing from the first week of June – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
