Dry Taps, Empty Lakes, Shuttered Cities: A Water Crisis Batters Iran
Temperatures are so high that one day last month a part of Iran saw a heat index of 149 degrees Fahrenheit, according to sites that track extreme weather, making it one of the hottest places on Earth.
Iran is in the throes of an acute water crisis, on top of a monthslong energy shortage that has prompted daily scheduled power cuts across the country. Iranians still recovering from a 12-day war with Israel and the United States last month must now confront life without the basics.
The government announced this week that many reservoirs, particularly those that supply the capital, Tehran, with drinking water, were drying out. Water supplies for Tehran are predicted to run out in just a few weeks, officials said, pleading with the public to reduce water consumption.
'The water crisis is more serious than what is being talked about today, and if we do not make urgent decisions today, we will face a situation in the future that cannot be cured,' President Masoud Pezeshkian said at a cabinet meeting on Monday, adding, 'We cannot continue this way.'
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