Tehran Faces Potential Mass โคEvacuation as Water crisis Deepens
Tehran, the capital of Iran, is bracing for a potential evacuation โคas water supplies dwindle to critically low levels. The Karaj Dam, a key source providing 25% ofโ the city’sโ drinking water to its 15 โmillion residents, currently holds onlyโ 8% of its capacity, mirroring a dire situation across other reservoirs. This has prompted Iranian officials to contemplate drastic measures, including the โpossibility of mass relocation.
Iran has been โgrappling with a six-year drought,exacerbated by consistently low rainfall and โincreasingly critical reservoir levels in โrecent months. While water rationing is already in effect in some areas, experts warn โคthe situation is rapidly deteriorating. โฃ
“Day zero, as โขwe callโ it in the water sector,โข is near. It’sโ a day thatโ the taps would run dry,” stated Professorโฃ Kaveh Madani, โขDirector of the United Nations University Institute for Water, to CBC.
President Masoudโค Pezeshkian recently cautioned that if Tehranโข doesn’t receive rainfall by the end of November, rationing will escalate, โขpotentially leading to โevacuation. The city’s vulnerability stems from decades of unsustainable practices, including water-intensive agricultural irrigation, subsidizedโ water usage, and notable population migration to urban โขcenters, which hasโค strained existingโค resources.
Energy Minister Ali Abadi has also pointed to contributing factors such โฃasโฃ significantโค water leakage from Tehran’s aging, 100-year-old water infrastructure and damage sustained duringโ the 12-day โconflict with Israel in June.
Tehran is not alone in facing such a crisis; cities โlike Mexico City, Sao Paulo, and Cape Town have previously confronted similar “Day Zero” scenarios. Though, the issue in Iranโข is long-standing, with President Pezeshkian raising concerns about impending water shortages asโค early as 2011.โข
“These things were not created overnight,” Professor Madani explained to Sky News. โ”They’re the product of decades of bad management, lack of foresight, โฃoverreliance and false confidence in โฃhow much infrastructure and engineering projects can do inโ aโค country that is relatively water short.”
