Citizens' Accounts of Water and Electricity Rationing: 'Real Hell' is Coming

Following reports of an unprecedented decrease in the water reserves of Tehran's dams and whispers of water rationing, an expert emphasized that 'the root of the water mega-crisis lies in the existing political and economic structures.' He told Voice of America that with the continuation of this situation, 'Iran is getting closer to territorial death.' Some Iranian citizens, in conversations with the Persian section of Voice of America, stressed that the energy crisis and shortages of water and electricity have seriously impacted their lives and caused numerous damages. After mandatory and consecutive closures in many provinces during the cold season, some media in Iran have warned about the 'critical situation of the country's dams,' reporting that 'dryness and water rationing will not wait until summer and will occur sooner.' According to reports, officials from the Ministry of Energy have warned that 'if water consumption is not managed, the capital will face serious challenges in water supply.' According to Mohammad Javanbakht, Deputy Minister of Energy, 'the dams supplying drinking water to Tehran, including Lar, Latiyan, Mamlou, and Karaj, are facing an unprecedented decrease in reserves,' and 'Karaj Dam is only seven percent full, which is unprecedented in the history of this dam's operation.' This official also stated that 'Lar Dam is at one percent capacity, and Latiyan and Mamlou dams have similar conditions with 12 percent capacity.' Mohammad Nayeb-Yazdi, a water and environmental resources expert, told Voice of America that 'the mega-crisis of water in Iran stems from the political and economic structures of the country.' He emphasized that the water crisis is exacerbated by a lack of sustainable development, ineffective management of water resources, a non-democratic political structure, along with ideological policies and a lack of public participation. Nayeb-Yazdi, a PhD graduate in water resources and environmental engineering from Virginia Tech, stressed that 'economic dependence on natural resources, including water, and incorrect and destructive decision-making at the macro level have limited the country's ability to face water challenges and made finding solutions to reduce this crisis impossible.' He emphasized that 'solving mega-crises is only possible in systems that have a serious will to confront crises.' This consultant and designer of urban flood projects in the Virginia state government emphasized that in Iran, after 1979, 'the policies and projects implemented in the field of water resource management show that the government’s indifference to solving the water crisis has exacerbated environmental problems.' Nayeb-Yazdi highlighted the 'engineering of destruction' by the government regarding natural resources, adding that 'an examination of water management trends in recent years shows that the issue is not limited to mismanagement or a lack of expertise and rationality, but the decision-making patterns indicate a destructive and ongoing trend that has worsened conditions.' This water and natural resources expert also stated that 'under such circumstances, even specialists will be unable to provide effective solutions to control the water crisis' because, according to him, 'without fundamental changes in water policy and governance, no solution will be executable or successful.' Nayeb-Yazdi also stated: 'Iran needs management that prioritizes national interests over ideological policies and implements serious reforms in water policies.' He emphasized that adopting 'scientific approaches, creating transparent and accountable governance, and moving towards a diverse and sustainable economy can help reduce the water crisis,' adding that 'achieving this goal is impossible without public participation and trust.' He noted that 'given the government's resistance to adopting fundamental reforms in water resource management and the lack of public participation and trust in governmental decisions, one cannot expect the mega-water crisis to be resolved under the current conditions in Iran.' According to Nayeb-Yazdi, 'without fundamental changes in governance structures and macro policies, the destruction of water resources will continue, and if the current conditions persist, not only will the mega-water crisis not be contained, but Iran will get closer to territorial death.' Simultaneously with warnings about the critical water situation, citizens' concerns in Iran about its impact on their lives have increased. In this regard, a citizen living in Tehran shared their experience with Voice of America, saying: 'My job is to prepare and package vegetables. The vegetables purchased in the morning must be washed at a specific time and chopped at a designated time, and after packaging, they are delivered to customers. Power outages have caused me significant losses, and now whispers of water rationing are causing concern.' They added: 'When the electricity goes out, my work naturally falls behind, and I lose some of my customers. Now, with spring and summer approaching and the weather warming up, water and electricity outages are putting my work in crisis. Power outages jeopardize cooling appliances like refrigerators and freezers, and delays in the process of preparing the final product, including timely washing and chopping of vegetables, reduce the quality of our products and sometimes make them unsellable.' This citizen emphasized: 'This situation applies to other jobs as well. Everyone's life is affected by water and electricity outages in some way.' A teacher in Karaj province also told Voice of America: 'Under the pretext of fuel management or energy imbalance, in-person classes were closed on most days during the cold season, and online education replaced it, which, with intermittent power outages, creates serious problems for education, especially if it does not follow the schedule and goes out unexpectedly.' This teacher explained: 'For example, in the first period, students living in one area would say the power is out, and based on the schedule, I knew they were telling the truth. When the electricity goes out, the modem stops working, and the internet is cut off, causing students to miss that class. This pattern repeats intermittently. In the second period, another group of students has no power, and for example, in the third period, it is our area's turn for a power outage, and this time the teacher loses the ability to attend the online class.' They added: 'Imagine how much the quality of education declines under such conditions, and now that the weather is better and some days classes are held in schools, the whispers of water cuts have also started. A problem that will cause trouble in a different way.' Some social media users have also blamed the Islamic Republic for the 'mega-water crisis' in Iran, emphasizing that the depletion of the dams around the capital means a lack of water and electricity and 'real hell for Tehran' in summer 1404. The water crisis in Iran is not limited to Tehran and provinces in semi-arid regions but has also affected the north of the country. The critical situation of water and natural resources in Gilan The newspaper Shargh published in Tehran has examined the special situation of the water and natural resources crisis in Gilan province, noting that the once abundant Goharrud and Zarehroud rivers on either side of Rasht, the capital of Gilan province, 'are filled with sludge and sewage.' It reported that 'the sewage from Rasht, Khomam, Soume'eh Sara, Masal, and other cities, as well as '700 villages, flows into the Zarehroud and Goharrud rivers,' and 'the wastewater from a population of over one million pours into Anzali Lagoon.' According to this report, 'the wastewater of pesticides and chemical fertilizers from 230,000 hectares of farmland and wastewater filled with chemical sediments from the Gilan industrial town flows into these two rivers, which are filled with sewage and ultimately flow into Anzali Lagoon.' The report emphasized that 'Anzali Lagoon has not been dredged for 50 years, and its depth has decreased from 10 meters before the revolution to less than half a meter.' It pointed out that recent heavy rains in northern Iran have created environmental crises instead of providing water reserves, stating that 'in recent weeks, about three billion cubic meters of fresh water have entered Gilan through rainfall, but the lagoon has filled up and has no place to store it. As a result, this volume of rainfall appears as devastating floods.' Based on this report, Anzali Lagoon and the Goharrud and Zarehroud rivers 'are filled with viruses, microbes, and industrial particles that enter the lungs of people with the slightest breeze, causing waves of various diseases in the city and increasing treatment costs.' Hadi Haqshenas, the governor of Gilan, told Shargh newspaper that 'at a depth of five meters in Anzali Lagoon, which covers an area of 200,000 square meters, there is about one billion cubic meters of wastewater, and if all the dredging equipment in the country were gathered in Gilan, only 30 million square meters could be dredged annually, which would quickly be replaced by new sewage inputs.' According to him, the solution to save Gilan is 'the construction of a sewage treatment network,' but 'building a treatment plant costs about 20 trillion tomans, which the budget of Gilan cannot meet.'