Iran’s groundwater resources may disappear due to inefficient agricultural methods

Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 25

By Khalid Kazimov - Trend:

The groundwater resources may disappear in Iran if the current level of consumption of water continues in the country, the deputy head of Iranian Department of Environment, Esmail Kahrom told Trend Nov. 25.

Kahrom said the country wastes a considerable amount of water, by not using modern methods of irrigation. According to Iranian Ministry of Energy the country annually receives about 420 million meter cubic of water through different types of precipitation while agricultural sector consumes about 92-94 percent of the received water.

Meanwhile only two percent is used for drinking and about four percent is used in industrial sectors, the official said.

According to a report by World Resources Institute, the world's demand for water is likely to surge in the next few decades.

Below is the latest data on the renewable water resources per capita in the world:

According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Iran ranked fifth after India, China, USA and Pakistan on the list of the top groundwater-abstracting countries as of 2010.

Criticizing the traditional methods of irrigation of lands which leads to the excessive consumption of water, Kahrom urged for applying the modernized methods of irrigation such as drip irrigation, sprinkler systems and other available methods which are widely used in the world.

The official concluded that excessive water use for agriculture is leaving rivers, lakes and underground water sources dry in many irrigated areas.