Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 14
By Khalid Kazimov - Trend:
The extent of snow cover across Iran in the 3rd week of the month of Bahman (Jan. 21 - Feb. 19) has been 20 percent lower than that of the previous year the same time, according to Iran's Water Resources Management Co., Fars news agency reported Feb. 14.
The report adds that t he volume of snow water equivalent has plunged down from 2.967 billion cubic meters to 2.364.
It also announced that the country's snow cover by the end of last week (Jan. 6) was estimated at 236,408 square kilometers, down from 296,741 the same time last year.
In the meantime, the country's snow water equivalent depth has been 10 millimeters, the same as the last year's, the report further mentions.
Precipitation in Iran during the current crop year (started on Sept. 22, 2014) decreased by 21 percent.
Iran is located in an arid zone and faces a serious water shortage crisis.
However, many experts believe that the current water shortage is a result of water resources mismanagement, rather than the drought.
According to statistics, up to 70 percent of water used in Iran's agriculture sector goes waste.
Iran started cloud seeding in seven provinces of Yazd, Kerman, Fars, Isfahan, West Azarbaijan, East Azarbaijan, and Tehran in early January to make up for scanty precipitation.
Cloud seeding, a form of weather modification, is the attempt to change the amount or type of precipitation that falls from clouds, by dispersing substances into the air that serve as cloud condensation or ice nuclei, which alter the microphysical processes within the cloud.