BAKU, Azerbaijan, Apr. 21
By Elnur Baghishov – Trend:
The water trading market in Iran will be piloted over the next two months, the Deputy Energy Minister of Iran Ghasem Taghizadeh Khamesi said, Trend reports citing the ministry.
He made the remark in a meeting held on the strategy of local and regional markets.
The deputy minister noted that the water trading market will be created in several regions of the country.
Taghizadeh Khamesi added that the assessment was conducted on the identified markets, taken steps, and work done in 9 regions of Iran.
During the meeting, the heads of regional water companies in Iran's provinces said that they are ready to be created local water trading markets.
As reported, it is estimated that water reserves and consumption will be greatly controlled with the creation of the water trading market in Iran.
Water trading is the transfer or sale of water or water rights from one user to another. Most exchanges involve a transfer of the resource itself, not a transfer of the right to use the water.
Reportedly, on Apr. 20, the Iranian Energy Minister, Reza Ardakanian, said that the rainfall in the current water year decreased by about 50 percent compared to the last water year.
The minister added that after that, climate change and even a severe drought are possible in Iran.
According to the statistics of the Energy Ministry of Iran, the water reserves of Iran's dams amounted to 29.3 billion cubic meters from the beginning of the current water year (September 22, 2020) to April 2, 2021. The water reserves of Iran's dams decreased by 12 percent compared to the same period last Iranian year. The capacity of Iran's dams is currently 50.5 billion cubic meters. So, only 58 percent of Iran's dams are full.