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RFL/RE – The water level in Iran’s reservoirs has seen a steep decline due to an increased production of hydroelectricity amid shortages prompted by high temperatures, drought, and mismanagement.
The ISNA news agency on December 17 reported that the water volume in Iran’s hydroelectric plant reservoirs is currently at 40 percent capacity — a dangerously low level.
Official data reveals that while the water inflow into reservoirs was up by 7 percent in December compared to the same period last year, the outflow surged by 22 percent — a year-on-year loss of 1 billion cubic meters of water reserves prompted apparently by a dramatic 57 percent increase in hydroelectric power generation over the first eight months of this year.SEE ALSO:Iran’s Climate Migration Crisis Could Turn Into National ‘Disaster’
Energy Ministry data suggests that authorities ramped up hydroelectric power production in an unprecedented manner in response to an electricity shortage in summer due to high temperatures.
The dramatic increase in water usage for the production of electricity in a country that has already been confronted with major water shortages comes amid a drastic failure to meet the renewable electricity production targets set by the government.
Out of the 2,600 megawatts of solar and wind power promised at the start of the year, a meager 1 percent has been achieved so far.
Altogether, while the government had announced an ambitious extra 6,000-megawatts would be produced this year, so far only 15 percent of that target has been achieved, with the majority of new production facilities being based on low-efficiency plants that use gas, mazut, and diesel oil.
While Iran is among the countries most vulnerable to climate change in the Middle East, government mismanagement of scant water resources has added to the shortages, triggering angry protests in recent years, especially in drought-stricken areas.
Water scarcity has also led to conflict. Iran and Afghanistan engaged in deadly cross-border clashes in May after Tehran demanded that its neighbor release more water from upstream to feed Iran’s endangered southeastern wetlands.
In July, officials warned that more than 1 million hectares of the country’s territory — roughly equivalent to the size of Lebanon — is essentially becoming unlivable every year.
The Iranian Meteorological Organization has estimated that 97 percent of the country is experiencing drought to some degree annually.
