Eisa Kalantari: Water Per Capita in Iran Has Exceeded Critical Conditions

The head of Iran's Department of Environment says that currently more than 70% of the country's population is facing "water scarcity" and that water per capita this solar year has exceeded critical conditions. Eisa Kalantari made these remarks on Thursday, June 14, during the introduction and farewell ceremony of the new director of the Environmental Protection Agency of Razavi Khorasan province. Previously, Reza Ardakaniyan, Iran's Minister of Energy, had described the year 1397 (2018) as the hardest year in terms of water supply in the country over the past half-century and warned that 334 cities with a population of 35 million are currently in a state of water stress. In recent years, protests and conflicts have been reported in various cities in Iran over water transfer to other areas or water shortages for agriculture. According to ISNA news agency, Mr. Kalantari attributed the exposure of over 70% of Iran's population to water scarcity to "one-sidedness in environmental issues" and "discontinuity" in development strategies after the 1979 revolution. He criticized the neglect of environmental issues in Iran's five-year development plans, adding: "Water per capita this year has dropped below 500 cubic meters, while below 1000 cubic meters is considered a crisis." Mr. Kalantari further stated that the current water scarcity conditions in Iran are so critical that addressing four main environmental problems in the country, including "improving the air quality of megacities, waste management, dust storms, especially those originating domestically, and restoring wetlands... is very difficult." This senior official of the Department of Environment referred to the "multi-million" city of Isfahan, which "has no drinking water, while the most water-intensive industries in the country have been established in Isfahan." He noted that other areas of Iran facing "environmental crises" include Khorasan, where "over 130% of renewable water resources are consumed in Razavi Khorasan province... whereas according to global standards, no more than 40% of renewable water should be used, and this consumption rate is 110% nationwide." Previously, Mohammad Mehdi Moravvechari, the governor of South Khorasan, had announced that currently more than 485 villages in this province have not even "a drop" of drinking water. The water crisis in Iran has become so serious that recently the Israeli Prime Minister announced the launch of a Persian-language website aimed at "helping" the people, especially farmers in Iran, to recycle water and combat the severe water scarcity and drought crisis in Iran. In response to the launch of the aforementioned website in Persian, Eisa Kalantari said, "Netanyahu is mistaken; what does he have to do with Iran's environment? He should mind his own business." "We do not have the courage to present environmental indicators in global forums" The head of Iran's Department of Environment further stated that in the world, "one unit of energy is consumed to produce one unit of goods," but in Iran, "four units of energy are consumed for each unit of goods." He called this statistic "disgraceful" and introduced Iran as one of the "ashamed" countries in terms of environmental preservation. Eisa Kalantari warned about the necessity of changing domestic policies based on prioritizing environmental preservation, adding that the environmental situation in Iran is such that "we do not have the courage to present our real environmental indicators in global forums." Many regions of Iran have suffered from drought and water scarcity. He criticized the "asymmetrical and excessive consumption" in Iran, calling for a strategy to protect the environment and implicitly criticized the obstacles to the continuation of his deputy, Kaveh Madani, who was forced to resign due to pressure from security agencies and accusations of "espionage." Kalantari said, "I had a young deputy who would get on a truck to carry out environmental activities and go to different areas of the country; he did not wait for a plane or a mission order and was trying to take positive action." Statistics regarding the critical state of the environment in Iran are presented at a time when, since last winter, in addition to the pressures on Kaveh Madani, dozens of environmental activists have been arrested in various parts of Iran. These individuals face accusations of "espionage," and judicial officials say that Kavous Seyed Emami, a university professor and one of the most well-known of these individuals, "committed suicide" in prison. According to Mr. Kalantari, "today, no wetland is approximately alive in the country. Our hardest work is in wetlands." He considered the drying of the Gavkhouni wetland logical, referring to the lack of water in the Zayandeh Rud riverbed, and at the same time stated that "37 dams were built on the rivers in Urmia, leading to the drying of Lake Urmia." This environmental official provided alarming statistics, stating that "the water entering the ground in the country is 19.5 billion, while our extraction is 51 billion annually." The head of the Department of Environment further pointed to the foul water of the Karun river and Khorramshahr and Ahvaz, dam construction on all rivers in Iran for development, and the problems of dust storms resulting from it, the drying of all wetlands due to self-sufficiency policies in food, and wrong policies that have polluted the air of 10 megacities in Iran, as well as the waste management issues for northern cities of Iran and the subsidence of several tens of meters in the city of Hamadan. He stated that to help Iran's environment, officials and people must be persuaded to "stop unsustainable and unbalanced behaviors and preserve the environment." Previously, an official from Iran's Department of Environment had announced that 60 wetlands in the country, which account for about 44% of the total area of wetlands in Iran, have dried up.