The disappearance of perennial rivers that flow all year – including the Zayanderud River in the Central Iranian Plateau – is throwing the livelihood of farmers into crisis, the state-run Mehr News Agency said.
The agency added: “The drying up of the Zayanderud is a disaster for farmers, whose crops have already been hit by large-scale agricultural water loss across the country.”
The Zayanderud originates in the Zagros Mountains and flows about 200km to the east to the 41,500 km square Zayanderud basin where until now dams have been used to supply irrigation.
The state-run Fars news agency quoted Iran Ghazi, a member of Isfahan Research Faculty, as saying: “Almost all of Iran’s perennial rivers are dying because we have destroyed their resources.
“For instance we have turned 70 percent of the debit of Karoun water into sewage. The issue of water in Isfahan suffers from a management crisis that has caused water in this province to dry up.”
Mehr also reported ecology instructor Hassan Askari as saying: “In the years from 2008 to 2012, Iran’s environmental situation has fallen 36 places in the global classification from to 114th place among 132 countries.
“There is hardly anyone who can remember when the air was not polluted in large cities. All anyone knows now is increased deaths due to air pollution, the critical condition of Orumiyeh lake, the chaotic condition of Abar’s Hyrcanian Forest, which is considered one of the most unique vegetations in the world, millions of litres of sewage flowing into the Caspian Sea, and many more similar examples.”
