Water levels at the dam reservoirs supplying Iran’s northeastern city of Mashhad plunged below three per cent, media reported on Sunday, as the country suffers from severe water shortages.
“The water storage in Mashhad’s dams has now fallen to less than three per cent,” Hossein Esmaeilian, the chief executive of the water company in Iran’s second largest city by population, told ISNA news agency.
He added that “the current situation shows that managing water use is no longer merely a recommendation – it has become a necessity”.
It comes as authorities in Tehran warned over the weekend of possible rolling cuts to water supplies in the capital amid what officials call the worst drought in decades.
ReplyDeleteIn the capital, five major dams supplying drinking water are at “critical” levels, with one empty and another at less than eight percent of capacity, officials say.
“If people can reduce consumption by 20 percent, it seems possible to manage the situation without rationing or cutting off water,” Esmaeilian said, warning that those with the highest consumption could face supply cuts first.