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Iran urges public to conserve water, power amid shortages
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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Iranian government on Tuesday urged citizens to help address severe water and electricity shortages by saving and managing consumption, stressing that public cooperation is essential.
'The government, along with experts, academics, and specialists, is in talks to resolve the imbalances and provide solutions to the issues. We must solve the issue of energy imbalance in water and electricity … with the help of the people themselves, through saving and managing consumption,' government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani said in a weekly presser.
She emphasized that resolving the shortages requires time and 'definitely needs the support of the people, otherwise there is no other way,' calling for a decrease in consumption.
Iran has been facing water and electricity shortages in recent years, which have intensified in the past few months. Residents of Tehran and the western Kurdish regions (Rojhelat) say that power cuts last for hours, making the summer heat intolerable.
The government has announced official holidays for government institutions, branches, and banks in an attempt to save energy and manage consumption, leading to numerous issues due to the delay of administrative tasks.
Earlier in August, President Masoud Pezeshkian warned of a 'severe imbalance in the water and electricity sectors,' urging the energy ministry to expedite its efforts to minimize the damage.
State media in August said that 56 percent of the country's dam reservoirs were empty, while Iran's Water Resources Management Company has reported that dam inflows have fallen 42 percent.
As a result of years of mismanagement, Lake Urmia in West Azerbaijan province – the world's second largest hypersaline lake – is now experiencing an unprecedented decline in water levels and could potentially dry up this year, the semi-official Tasnim news agency warned on Tuesday.
