Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 6
By Fatih Karimov – Trend:
Annually Iran losses over 11 billion cubic meters of water resources due to border rivers flowing out, Alimorad Akbari, Iran’s deputy agriculture minister, said.
Iran’ runoff waters partly flow to Caspian Sea in the north and Persian Gulf in the south and some to the neighboring countries, Akbari said, IRNA news agency reported Dec. 6.
He further said that the administration has allocated $10 billion from Iran's National Development Fund to save the water resources flowing out.
Iran’s energy and agriculture ministries are implementing a joint project regarding the issue, Akbari said, adding that the project covers an area of 1.2 million hectares and will be finalized by 2018.
Protecting environment and water resource are priority based on the country’s sixth Five Year Development Plan (2016-2021), he added.
According to a report published by the Research Center of the Iranian parliament, the Islamic Republic has 89 border rivers, of them 68 rivers flow out of the country.
The Islamic Republic is located in an arid zone and the country faces a serious water shortage crisis, however many experts believe that the current water shortage problem is a result of water resources mismanagement, rather than the drought.
Iran's total annual water consumption is approximately 93 billion cubic meters, out of which about 92 percent is used in agriculture (86 billion cubic meters), 6.6 percent in municipality (6.18 billion cubic meters), and 1.2 percent in industry (1.12 billion cubic meters), according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization(FAO).
Up to 70 percent of water used in the agriculture sector is being wasted, Iranian officials say.