The countdown to Iran’s day zero: A crisis of water, not war

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1. **Submission Statement:** This article discusses the looming water crises threatening Iran. Poor water management, such as inefficient agricultural use, lack of water recycling infrastructure, and the unsustainable use of groundwater are culminating together to run Iran dry.

   Of Iran’s estimated 500 billion cubic meters of groundwater reserve, 200 billion are gone, and much of the remaining 300 billion is saline, unfit for use without desalination, a technology which Iran greatly lags their Middle Eastern contemporaries. The formerly readily available groundwater resources meant that Iran failed to invest heavily in water infrastructure, such as conveyance, desalination, and recycling, as many other Middle Eastern countries have done.

   Now as groundwater dries up, Iran is forced to divvy up its dwindling resources. This threatens to inflame ethnic tensions in Iran, as favoritism for ethnic Persians and Lurs for water rights vs. it’s Arab, Kurdish, or Azeri minorities may cause conflicts. Iran already ranks 4th globally for water insecurity, and poses an existential threat for the regime as the water crisis escalates.

2. Seems like Iran would be better off taking all those resources it is investing in funding its military allies and using that money to build desalinization plants. CBS, several days ago: *U.S. Central Command said its Yemeni partners successfully intercepted a “massive Iranian weapons shipment” that was meant to reach the nation’s Houthi rebels.*

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