Baku, Azerbaijan, Sep. 5
By Farhad Daneshvar – Trend:
While Iran, located in an arid area of the world, is facing serious water issues, the country’s environment chief sees the nation’s ancient civilization at risk due to high level of water consumption.
“If Iran fails to reduce the level of water consumption, its 8,000 year-old civilization will be destroyed,” Isa Kalantari, the new chief of the Department of Environment, said on Monday.
He further added that the high level of water consumption could lead to drought in the country.
Kaveh Madani a Senior Lecturer of Environmental Management in the Centre for Environmental Policy at the Imperial College London, believes that rapid population growth, inefficient agriculture sector and mismanagement are among the major reasons for the current water crisis in the country.
In the meantime, declining groundwater levels alongside with increasing ecosystem losses have worsened the situation in Iran, a country that was once recognized as the pioneer of sustainable water management.
On the other hand, deep wells and the over-abstraction of surface and groundwater resources appear to escalate the Middle Eastern nation’s water situation to a critical level.
Kaveh Madani who is an expert in water resources planning management in arid areas including Middle East and California suggests that this is evidenced by drying lakes, rivers and wetlands, declining groundwater levels, land subsidence, water quality degradation, soil erosion, desertification and more frequent dust storms.
Alaeddin Boroujerdi, the head of the Iranian parliament's national security and foreign policy committee, had earlier warned that water crisis has escalated into a national security predicament.
Addressing the concerns over water crisis has long been a challenge and the country’s failure to take immediate actions would make the situation more tragic in the near future.
