For decades, many people have been celebrating World Water Day on the first week of the year and trying to awaken the sleepers on this day. But I mostly remember the Day of the Dead in Mexico (Día de los Muertos) where they drink, dance, and laugh in memory of the dead.

Although I do not approve of the public irresponsibility of pouring salt on old wounds, when I look at the past of our land and people of Iran, I cannot believe that at a not-so-distant time, a large part of us Iranians have sat idly by and competed against each other, tearing each other apart. You may think I am exaggerating. You may think that, like many populists, I should blame all the sins of water misuse on the government and, while emphasizing the oppression of every single Iranian, condemn the oppressive rulers in a worthless note a hundred times. Without a doubt, a large part of the sin of destroying water resources lies on the shoulders of the rulers, but have we not ourselves fallen into the abyss of evil in this matter? Have we, as citizens, not played a role in the disappearance of the rights of future generations and the right to a clean environment?

“When I think about the fact that during the past seven decades, when our literacy rate as Iranians has been higher than any other period, how our underground and surface water resources have been destroyed, I get a headache. The government built and inaugurated dams, and we as people also contributed… The government allowed for the digging of wells to achieve self-sufficiency in agriculture, as a “strong fist in the mouth of enemies of the Islamic system,” and we celebrated our victory in achieving self-sufficiency in grain production… Today, we see the consequences of those short-lived joys. Empty aquifers, once green valleys now turned into deserts, vast areas have become uninhabitable, and ultimately, the Iranian people are left sick and disorganized.”

From the origin of the four elements to our lack of authenticity.

A few days ago, I went to the location of the University of Oklahoma in the city of Stillwater and sat next to the statue of the late president of this university, who died in a plane crash near Tehran in 1951. He was supposed to be the implementer of the extensive Point Four Program in Iran, but he crashed and died, and the gradual decline of Iran’s underground water resources due to this program was not seen.

Although it was intended that the United States would use the Truman Doctrine to prevent the spread of communism and help Iran, and it did have positive effects in various sectors, the Iranian farmer became familiar with deep well drilling. After land reforms and gradual elimination of large landowners, new landowners wanted to dig wells on their farms, unaware that excessive extraction of groundwater would lead to the death of the aquifer and land subsidence. The death of the aquifer also leads to the death of the land, and the farmer, who was once the guardian of the land, will be forced to give up his ties to the land and find another way to survive.

We Iranians have had a system called “kariz” for thousands of years. In this system, we do not take more water than what the aquifer provides us. Even in areas where water was not used much, a large portion was stored for use in spring to prevent waste. The Qanats of Vazvan near Mihneh are examples of the Iranian ingenuity in a time when they knew the value of every drop of water.

Some historians have referred to Iranian civilization as the Kariz civilization; without logical and sustainable management of water, the formation of cities and villages in the dry regions of the Iranian plateau was impossible. If at one point Kariz brought us civilization, the new civilization killed Kariz. I do not want to follow the Islamic Republic officials and blame all inefficiencies on the “enemy”, but the Truman Doctrine did not come to our aid with underground water sources. Although our fathers knew that when our income is low, we should spend more slowly, but for seven decades we have been spending underground water resources without considering the amount of water entering the aquifers (water entering the underground water table from snow and rain or artificial feeding). Every year more than the previous year… And despite the fact that the Ministry of Energy does not announce accurate statistics, from time to time we hear from former officials – including Eisa Kalantari – that most of the sweet underground water resources have been drained and what remains are salty

They say that the treatment of pain is only possible when we know the type of pain. We are suffering from the disease of excessive consumption. We have become addicted to overconsumption and all the efforts of post-revolution governments have been to provide more water for our addiction. We live in a time where, unlike our ancestors who adapted to the environmental conditions of Iran and knew the secret of resilience, we have become weak and vulnerable citizens. In a time when climate change is affecting us, we have forgotten our roots and instead of looking to our ancestors, we have lost our way in this drought. If we know that the misuse of water is one of the factors leading to the destruction of our valuable resources, we would not be willing to optimize it. If we understand that we need to reduce our consumption of renewable water resources, we turn to non-renewable resources and use them all up. If we realize that our agriculture has flaws and we are wasting a large portion of our water,

Pain and suffering from water scarcity in certain regions of Iran causes me more agony, including the shining gem of Iran, Isfahan. Isfahan, with its brilliant civilization, is declining… Why? When in the 1930s, they diverted water from the Karun River to Zayandeh Rud, many were deluded into thinking that the water flow would be permanent for an important part of the central Iranian plateau. Apart from industrial development, it wreaked havoc on the expansion of agricultural land. Lands that were mostly dry turned into irrigated lands, but when the precipitation pattern changed and there was less snowfall in the Zagros Mountains, the government, instead of changing consumption methods, sought to secure more water, and more water meant nothing but stealing the rights of the Karun River basin. Karun 2 was inaugurated.

The Langan and Khodangestan springs (from the Dez basin – part of the Karun basin) were new sources of increasing thirst. However, water consumption did not decrease and many farmers, forgetting the lessons of “Truman’s Principle 4”, wanted to compensate for the shortage by digging multiple wells in Isfahan and Burkhavar. The result was that in the absence of a constant flow from Zayandeh Rud, a large volume of the Isfahan-Burkhavar aquifer disappeared. The disappearance of water in wetland areas means the emptying of the space between soil particles from water and its replacement with air, and air cannot bear the weight of the upper layers and gradually the soil becomes compacted and the land subsides. Subsidence in plains occurs when the groundwater level has dropped and this shortage is not compensated for. Now in some parts of the Isfahan-Burkhavar region, the ground level drops annually by up to

The pain is still there in the vicinity of the city of Isfahan, where they work with well water, rice and alfalfa. Various areas in the province of Yazd also do not have much less than Isfahan and suffer from land degradation. Even more heartbreaking is seeing a group of people who have been the guardians of civilization for thousands of years, in a short period of time, being complicit with the foolish policies of the government, have lost their determination to destroy valuable water resources.

When you see farmers in the past seven decades, ignoring the amount of underground water reserves, have drained the aquifers because the government has defended agricultural self-sufficiency and has been able to irrigate dry lands, you ask yourself if they knew they were killing the future of their children with this method and trend. Thousands of farmers in dry regions of Iran have been forced to migrate after the depletion of underground water reserves. Those who were more capable were able to buy land in a more suitable climate and continue farming, but those who had no means became residents on the outskirts of cities, hoping for bread and a living. Now millions of hectares of land that were once irrigated and plowed are being abandoned and turning into deserts at an alarming rate. Running out of water is synonymous with becoming a desert. When you extract water from the heart of the land and the land becomes waterless, you have created a desert. We Iranians have led our land towards becoming waterless in the past few

Let’s wake up.

World Water Day should be a day of awakening for us. We should be aware that with the increasing temperature of the Earth, the melting of snow, the decrease in surface and underground water resources, our living conditions and those of our children will become more difficult. If we can, let us learn not to waste water ourselves and with those around us, and learn that for every food we eat, every clothing we wear, etc., thousands of tons of water are consumed. If we do not value every drop of water, we have wasted the rights of others.

Water, along with hygiene, has been considered a human right since 1389. From this perspective, the officials of the Islamic Republic government can be seen as violating human rights. Governments that are signatories to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights are obligated to provide fair and non-discriminatory access to water for drinking and sanitation, but have you seen justice in bringing water to the people of the drought-stricken Sistan and Baluchestan province? People who are either victims of floods or drought.

Injustice towards the environment is hidden in the genes of the Islamic Republic. Water projects impoverish some people and make a few others wealthy. When a few months ago, in a group research, we came to the conclusion that the financial profits of the large projects of the Khatam al-Anbiya base of the Revolutionary Guards in the fields of dam construction and water transfer goes into the pockets of the Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guards and is used for terrorist activities, we submitted our report to the special human rights reporter in Iran at the United Nations. The violation of the water rights of many Iranians by the Revolutionary Guards is not only a symbol of environmental injustice but also a violation of human rights. But can we ask engineers and experts to not cooperate with destructive projects in difficult economic conditions? The answer to this question is very difficult, but should we refrain from discussing the role of the Revolutionary Guards in the destruction of resources just to not upset those engineers and experts? Definitely not. Assigning

If thousands of engineers and experts have remained silent for any reason, they can be asked to express the realities about what they have been involved in. If engineers and experts know that transferring water from Karun Dam 3 to central Iran will disrupt the Karun basin and leave thousands homeless, shouldn’t they speak up? How much is the cost of taking on a project at the expense of destroying the rights of other humans?

The truth must be preserved for the sake of awareness and supported as much as possible by whistleblowers. We must appreciate those who want to awaken society from its slumber.