Iran is facing its most severe water emergency in decades, with officials warning that evacuating parts of Tehran – a city of about 10 million – may become necessary if drought conditions persist.
President Masoud Pezeshkian declared in early November that extreme measures, including relocating residents, could be necessary if meaningful rainfall does not arrive until late November. The reservoirs that supply the capital are down to just 5% of reserve capacity, according to Mohsen Ardakani, head of the Tehran Province Water and Wastewater Company.
For many residents, the crisis is disrupting daily life. Erfan Ensani, 39, returned home from work last week to find his taps dry for the third straight day. Low water pressure left entire neighborhoods without running water.
“The water company says we should buy pumps to solve the problem and also get a storage tank to keep some water,” Ensani said. “But that’s expensive, especially now when the economy is bad.”
Tehran is in its sixth year of drought, and summer temperatures topping 50 degrees Celsius have triggered rolling power outages. Energy Minister Abbas Aliabadi has warned that authorities may have to halt water supply entirely on some nights to conserve what remains.
Experts say the country is not merely suffering a crisis but a “water bankruptcy,” driven not only by drought but also by decades of mismanagement, inefficient agriculture, and heavy reliance on dams that have depleted rivers and aquifers.
“A crisis is a state that you can mitigate,” said Kaveh Madani, director of the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health. “But the damages we are seeing to the ecosystem, to nature, and even to many parts of the economy and infrastructure are irreversible.”
The shortages have already sparked student protests at several universities and intensified tensions in southwestern Khuzestan province, where water scarcity has previously led to clashes and arrests.