The late Hadi Saber has a memorable statement about the state of governance in the country in recent decades, which states, “The foundation of management and ruling in the Islamic Republic is firmly against plundering.” The management of water in Iran, in the past four decades, has confirmed this bitter and suffocating reality.

Most of the Iranian plateau is dry and water-scarce. However, Iranians have been able to manage its water resources effectively for thousands of years. They have adapted to the climate conditions of this plateau. Catherine Lempert, a historian, Iranian studies scholar, and English researcher, has praised the impressive management of the Marv Dam a thousand years ago. This dam and its branching canals had over four hundred guards and five thousand workers who used innovative methods to provide the necessary water for the people in a vast area including Khwarazm, Balkh, and surrounding regions (1). The ancient structure of the canal, dating back thousands of years, was also one of the Iranian innovations for water management.

But it has been a decade or two that very serious and worrying signs about the water crisis in Iran have been observed. Signs that pose serious threats to the Iranian people. It should be noted that in the history of Iran, there have been droughts much worse than similar cases in recent decades, and Iranians have been able to overcome these crises. But the current crisis is very dangerous, as the historical balance of water management in Iran has been disrupted. For example, the people of the ancient and culturally rich region of Yazd had been accustomed to the water-scarce climate for thousands of years, and had experienced a unique way of life. Yazd was famous for its “qanats, qanouts, and fana’at” and Yazdis would take their technologies for water management to other parts of Iran. But with the implementation of unwise plans to transfer water to this region, and the establishment of water-intensive industries, that ancient way of life has undergone fundamental changes in

By examining the roots of the current water crisis in Iran, one can see with an unbiased eye the role of the Islamic Republic’s mismanagement in this issue.

The first question that arises is whether, before the Islamic Republic, any mistakes were made in managing water resources? The answer must be yes! They have happened. However, the former rulers of this land learned from their mistakes in a short period of time and corrected them. But to our utter surprise, we see that the current rulers of Iran not only do not learn from their mistakes, but also insist stubbornly on continuing them. It seems that they are the most anti-people government in the entire history of Iran.

It is clear that the land of Iran and all its resources are considered as common property and all the people have an equal share in all resources, including oil, minerals, water, etc. The inhabitants of water-rich areas do not have exclusive ownership of the water in their region, rather all the people of Iran have a share in its ownership. But does this equal share justify grand and insane water transfer projects? The answer is no. Transferring water from water-rich areas to water-poor areas is only justified for drinking purposes, but not for agricultural and industrial purposes. In Iran, the share of drinking water from the total water consumption of the country is only about two to three percent. More than ninety percent of water consumption is in the agricultural sector and the rest is used in the industrial sector. When a certain area of the country is not suitable for agriculture or does not have the potential for industrial development (especially industries that require a lot of water), insisting on transferring water to that area

Before the revolution, for security reasons, a large iron smelting factory was built in Isfahan. The construction of the first Koohrang tunnel to supply drinking water to desert cities began. However, the country’s officials realized that building high-consumption industries in the central plateau not only had no economic benefits, but also had long-term consequences. Therefore, from the early 1950s, fundamental changes took place in Iran’s development projects.

In 1353, the French company Seteran, in collaboration with Iranian and foreign researchers, presented a long-term plan for the development of Iran based on the Iranian land arrangement plan (2). The study of this plan is very interesting in the current time; if such a plan had been implemented, many of the current problems would not have arisen.

In the aforementioned plan, the population of Iran was expected to reach 50 million in 1378 (1999), and it was planned that by constructing several major cities on the southern coasts, half of the country’s population would reside in these cities. However, at present, only two to three percent of Iran’s population live in these areas and they often suffer from extreme poverty. The city of Chabahar and its villages and towns are deprived of even the most basic medical facilities, despite the fact that this port is the gateway to Iran’s access to the Indian Ocean and international waters. It was also planned that by 1378 (1999), Iran’s steel production capacity would reach over 100 million tons, with half of this amount being produced in three steel complexes in coastal cities.

The large steel complex, which was built in Mobarakeh, Isfahan, was supposed to be built in Hormozgan, but after the revolution and due to issues related to the war, this complex was built in a blind spot in the desert surrounding Isfahan; a place that was very far from water sources.

Uncontrolled growth in the agricultural sector and cultivation of land in Iran may be considered as the most important reason for the current disastrous situation. After the revolution and due to the dominance of ideological frameworks of the government, irrational and insane plans were implemented for so-called self-sufficiency in agricultural production, a practice also seen in North Korea.

Despite the fact that in the development program that was drafted in 1356, the plan was to decrease the amount of cultivated land, after the revolution, this plan, like most other plans, was abandoned and the area of cultivated land doubled compared to before the revolution. Meanwhile, the land capacity of Iran is very low in terms of soil fertility.

It is said that Amir Abbas Hoveyda, the Prime Minister of Iran in the 1940s and 1950s, when the inland lakes of Iran were full of water and most of the country’s rivers were flowing, had stated that Iran is a water-scarce country and we must import many agricultural products from abroad.

After the revolution, countless and reckless permits for drilling wells were issued in various regions of Iran, to the extent that underground water tables were depleted and most of Iran’s plains are now sinking. Before the revolution, there were many restrictions on drilling wells in Iran’s water conservation laws, and in many desert areas, drilling wells was completely prohibited. (3) After the revolution, in addition to reckless drilling, dam construction projects in Iran, which were mostly planned before the revolution, deviated from their original plans due to changes in the structure and the influence of the dam construction mafia, leading to an increase in the number of projects.

In the mindset of the leaders of the Islamic Republic, water, like many other resources, is considered their spoils. Wherever there is flowing water, they think they should exploit it. During the sixth parliament, I was a parliamentary reporter and during one of the discussions about water management, one of the representatives said, “Isn’t it a shame that this water goes to waste in the rivers and ends up in the seas? Why don’t we use every drop of this water?” This means that the representative of this country does not understand that the flow of water in rivers from its source to its destination is vital for the climate of the region. The issue is that the current rulers of Iran do not manage and use the resources of Iran for the benefit of Iran, but rather they plunder them for their own interests and ideologies.

The situation has become such that going back to the past, if we don’t say it’s impossible, is very difficult. Millions of Iranians have been employed in the agriculture and industry sectors due to chaotic agricultural policies. And if the volume of agriculture in the country decreases, many of them will become unemployed. This means that even if the life of the Islamic Republic ends today and the national government is restored, it will take decades for the consequences of the past few decades of plundering management to end. And that’s only if the situation doesn’t reach an irreversible stage.

Notes:

1- Lampoon, N.K.S., “Government and Governance in Islam”, translated by Mahmoud Jafari, 1393, Tehran: Ghalam Publications, p. 382.

2- Iran’s Organization of Planning and Budget, “Development Year Book”, 1353.

3- Amini, Mohammad Hossein, “Laws and Regulations of Irrigation in Iran from 1312 to 1382”, 1385, Tehran: Presidential Strategic Studies Center Publications, p. 518.