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Deadly Water Crisis Threatening Iran's Leadership

(Bloomberg) Golnar Motevalli - A long-brewing crisis over water scarcity poses an increasing challenge to Iran's leaders as the country faces the worst drought in decades. State agencies run daily headlines about huge drops in rainfall, dam failures and depletions in ground and surface water stores. Fars News has warned that 300 towns and cities now face acute water stress. Government meteorologists estimate 97% of the country is affected by drought, while one academic says 20 million people have been forced to move to cities because the land is too dry for farming. Many dams registered record levels of evaporation this year, triggering power outages at the height of one of the hottest summers ever recorded. The Zayandeh Rud river started disappearing two decades ago after engineers diverted its flows to support industrial plants outside Esfahan. At the same time, public parks in Tehran remain well-watered. It's common practice to spray pavements to cool them down.
2021-12-27 00:00:00
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