Tehran’s major reservoir almost dried
The total volume of the water in Iranian Tehran province's Lar reservoir dam currently stands at 30 million cubic meters, of that amount only 18 million cubic meters can be used, Mohammad Shahriari, an official at the Iranian energy ministry announced.
The volume of the water in the dam at the same time last year was about 66 million cubic meters, Shahriari said, Mehr news agency reported.
Lar is one of the five reservoirs which supply the capital city of Tehran with water, and its total capacity is over 960 million cubic meters. About 35 percent of the total water consumed in the capital comes from the Lar reservoir, according to the report.
The total volume of the water in Tehran's five reservoirs has decreased by 40 percent in comparison with last year, Iran's energy minister, Hamid Chitchian warned earlier.
Iran is located in an arid zone and the country has been repeatedly faced with drought in the past 40 years. The drought of 1992-2002 caused a major blow to agriculture. There were quotas imposed for fresh water in several cities including Tehran.