Baku, Azerbaijan, June 13
By Fatih Karimov - Trend:
Ten other cities in Iran face water shortage crisis, Iranian Deputy Energy Minister Sattar Mahmoudi said.
Last year, 517 cities in Iran faced water shortage, he said, adding that unfortunately 10 other cities have been added to the list, Iran's Fars news agency quoted Mahmoudi as saying on June 13.
The situation in five cities, namely Sanandaj, Bandar Abbas, Kerman, Isfahan, and Tehran, is very critical, he noted.
Precipitations have dropped by 20 percent so far in the current year compared to the year before, he said.
A special plan has been prepared, based on which 5 billion cubic meters of underground water will be restored annually, he added.
Iran's Deputy Agriculture Minister Abbas Keshavarz said in Feb. that water consumption in Iran is nearly double of indices announced by the Food and Agriculture Organization.
He added that based on FAO indices, extracting 40 percent of water resources is allowed in each country. This is while 75 percent of water resources are being extracted in the country.
The per capita consumption of water in the national level is below 1,000 cubic meters, he said.
"This means entering the phase of critical tension," he said.
However, many experts believe that the current water shortage problem is a result of water resources mismanagement, rather than the drought.