The Iranian capital Tehran is experiencing its driest autumn in six decades, a government official has warned, amid concerns over water shortages in the city and surrounding regions.
Rama Habibi, who leads production operations at Tehran Regional Water Company, said on Monday that the province of Tehran had experienced a fifth dry spell in a row in the water year that ended in September.
“In the past 60 years, we have not experienced such low autumn rainfall in Tehran, and the current situation is unprecedented,” Habibi was quoted as saying by the Tasnim news agency.
He added that the absence of rainfall in Tehran this autumn has caused the water storage in five dams supplying the city to drop to 205 million cubic meters (mcm) on November 3, down from 426 mcm reported on the same day last year.
The comments came as Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian used a video link on Monday to inaugurate a major water transfer project, bringing water to Tehran from a dam more than 140 kilometers northwest of the city.
According to the Energy Ministry, the $80-million project will add 5 cubic meters per second to the water supply delivered to households and businesses in Tehran.
Water consumption in Tehran, a city of nearly 10 million people, reached records of nearly 4 mcm per day in late July, prompting authorities to reduce pressure in transmission pipes in several neighborhoods to manage supply.
The government also imposed restrictions on swimming pool use and declared holidays to help curb water consumption.
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