With reservoirs nearly empty and drought at historic levels, Tehran, Tabriz, Mashhad, Arak, and Karaj face nightly water cuts amid what officials call “an unprecedented water emergency.”
Iran is facing one of the most severe water crises in decades. Government agencies and state media have confirmed that the country’s largest urban centers — including Tehran, Tabriz, Mashhad, Arak, and Karaj — are now under acute water stress, with many regions already implementing nightly water rationing.
Tehran and Major Cities Hit by Nightly Water Cuts
According to reports from the state-run news agency ISNA, water in many districts of Tehran is being cut off from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. each night. The move, presented as a measure to manage consumption, underscores the depth of the crisis now gripping Iran’s most populated areas.
The state’s drought management center has classified current conditions as “severe drought,” warning of “water stress” and a “crisis of water supply.” The agency stated that metropolitan areas are bearing the brunt of the crisis due to declining rainfall, depleted reservoirs, and unsustainable consumption levels.
Reservoirs at Critically Low Levels
In Mashhad, the head of the regime’s Water and Wastewater Company warned that water reserves in the city’s dams have dropped below 3% of capacity. He added that “water management is no longer a recommendation but an obligation.”
Across several provinces — including Tehran, East and West Azerbaijan, North and South Khorasan, Razavi Khorasan, and Markazi — dam reserves have reached alarmingly low or even single-digit percentages. Officials acknowledged that surface water resources can no longer meet public demand.
Karaj Dam Reaches “Dead Volume”
Perhaps the most alarming sign came from Alborz Province, where the Karaj Dam — one of the capital region’s main water sources — has reached what engineers call its “dead volume,” meaning that most of the remaining water is non-extractable.
Dawood Najafian, head of the regional water authority, confirmed that the Karaj Dam’s storage has fallen below 10% for the first time in 57 years, calling the current year “one of the hardest water years in recent decades.”
Mohammad Ali Moallem, the dam’s director, added that the reservoir’s water level has dropped by 52 meters, leaving only 8% of its capacity, most of which cannot be used due to sediment and water quality constraints.
“One of the Hardest Years in Decades”
The cumulative data paints a grim picture. Experts warn that the convergence of declining precipitation, aging infrastructure, and mismanagement has created a systemic crisis that could lead to long-term water scarcity in several key regions.
Even regime-affiliated outlets such as Fararu acknowledged that “water rationing has begun.” The outlet reported widespread overnight water cuts across Tehran that begin around 8 p.m. and continue until 6 a.m.
A Manufactured and Mismanaged Disaster
Critics argue that the severity of Iran’s water shortage is not solely due to natural drought but also the product of decades of poor planning, corruption, and environmental neglect by the ruling establishment.
Years of overexploitation of groundwater, excessive dam construction, and lack of investment in sustainable water management have left the country vulnerable to climate fluctuations.
The result is a crisis that threatens not just the environment but the daily lives of millions of Iranians — another reflection of a regime unable to manage the nation’s most vital resources.