TEHRAN, Iran, Jan. 10
Trend:
Iran is planning to import water from the Central Asian countries, advisor to the Minister of Energy Mohammad Ali Farahnakian told Trend.
"Iran has signed a memorandum of understanding regarding water management with neighboring countries such as Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Turkey, and Azerbaijan," Farahnakian said.
Speaking about the possibility of Iran importing water, the official pointed to Tajikistan, saying it has considerable water resources that are also being consumed by Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Afghanistan.
"Iran previously planned to import water from Afghanistan, but this has changed due to political and security-related issues in Afghanistan," Farahnakian said.
"Currently, importing water from Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan is on the agenda," he said, adding that the plan requires doing research and cooperation at the government levels.
Iran is considering importing water from neighboring Tajikistan as the government allocated emergency funds to help avert a supply crisis.
Iran’s water resources have been depleted by a lack of rain, the building of hydro-electric dams and farming of water-intensive products like rice, wheat and sugar cane.