Baku, Azerbaijan, June 4
By Umid Niayesh - Trend:
Iran’s power generation from hydroelectric power plants has decreased by 57 percent due to fall of water level in dams, the country’s energy ministry said.
The country’s 53 hydroelectric power plants produced 1,555 GWh of electricity from the beginning of the current fiscal year (March 20) to June 1, according to the ministry.
Earlier in January Iran’s Deputy Energy Minister Rahim Meidani said that this year’s drought is unprecedented in the past 50 years, warning that if this continues, the ministry will have problems in the field of power generation from hydroelectric power plants at the summer peak.
Water reserves behind Iran's reservoirs have reached 26.92 billion cubic meters, 19 percent less-year-on-year, according to the energy ministry’s report.
The reserves are about 54 percent of reservoirs' total capacity, which currently is about 49 billion cubic meters.
Iran's dam reservoir input has decreased by 37 percent during the current crop year, which began Sept. 22, 2017.
Dam reservoir output from the beginning of the current crop year also has decreased by 30 percent year-on-year.
The total volume of the water in Iranian Tehran province's five reservoirs dam currently stand at 800 million cubic meters which indicates a decrease of 28 percent compared to the same period of last year.
Only 42 percent of the five dam (Taleghan, Mamlou, Lar, latyan Karaj, ) reservoirs’ total capacity is filled with water.
The Islamic Republic is located in an arid zone and the country faces a serious water shortage crisis. Nearly 96 percent of Iran’s total area is suffering from different levels of prolonged drought. However, many experts believe that the current water shortage problem is a result of water resources mismanagement, rather than the drought.