Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 29
By Umid Niayesh - Trend:
Iran's dam reservoir input reached 18.89 billion cubic meters during the current crop year, which began Sept. 22, 2014 indicating a 17 percent fall compared to same period of last year.
Dam reservoir output from the beginning of the current crop year also stood at 13.52 billion cubic meters, 6.2 percent less compared to 14.41 billion cubic meters of output in the same period of the preceding year.
Water reserves behind Iran's reservoirs have reached 25.69 billion cubic meters, indicating a six percent decrease from year to year. The reserves are also about 53 percent of the total capacity.
For the time being, the total water capacity in the dam reservoirs is about 48.8 billion cubic meters, Iran's Mehr news agency reported April 29.
The Islamic Republic is located in an arid zone and the country faces a serious water shortage crisis. However, many experts believe that the current water shortage problem is a result of water resources mismanagement, rather than the drought.
Iran's total annual water consumption is approximately 93 billion cubic meters, out of which about 92 percent is used in agriculture (86 billion cubic meters), 6.6 percent in municipality (6.18 billion cubic meters), and 1.2 percent in industry (1.12 billion cubic meters), according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
Up to 70 percent of water used in the agriculture sector is being wasted, Iranian officials say.
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