Continued Water Outages in Various Regions of Iran; Residents of Robat Karim Protest

Reports from Iran indicate that water outages continue in various regions of the country, leading to protests amid the summer heat. In this context, the Iranian Retirees Council released a video showing residents of Robat Karim County in the southwest of Tehran province holding a protest after experiencing a four-day water outage. According to this labor organization, the protest took place on Thursday night. Reports also indicate that in villages of Ardabil province, lack of access to drinking water has become one of the people's major issues. In the port city of Jask in southern Iran, reports suggest that not only is there no water available, but locals claim that the government has also increased the cost of water tanker permits, making it unaffordable for them. Water outages in Tehran have also caused problems, particularly in the Fadaiyan Islam and Tawhid neighborhoods, where reports of frequent water cuts have emerged, making these areas, alongside eastern Tehran, the hardest hit by daily water shortages. Additionally, Majid Asanlou, a member of the Islamic Consultative Assembly from Zanjan, previously reported water outages and a lack of access to drinking water for 5,000 people in the village of 'Karsaf' in this province, stating that the village is facing a thirst crisis. Videos sent to VOA also show that people in various cities, including Mashhad, are facing water challenges, and water outages have disrupted their lives. The water cuts and the lack of sufficient water resources to meet people's needs occur at a time when Ali Akbar Mehrabian, the Minister of Energy, announced a decrease in per capita water consumption in Iran, stating that 50 years ago, the per capita water consumption for each Iranian was 3,600 cubic meters per year, but this figure has now dropped to less than 1,200 cubic meters. The situation is exacerbated by simultaneous water and electricity outages in Mashhad, where residents are relying on fire trucks for water. The Taliban has reportedly allocated water rights from the Helmand River to poppy fields, with parts of Iranian territory under Taliban control. The depletion of water resources under the pretext of job creation and self-sufficiency has led to groundwater extraction reaching 47 billion cubic meters annually. Amid the ongoing water and electricity crisis in Iran, the government claims it is pursuing necessary water rights.