The long-standing 20-year-old drought in the region is forcing many to have to provide their water from tank trucks delivering water to the areas.

The campaign, called Nazr-e Ab (literally meaning water donation), was launched three years ago, following the drought crisis in the southern and southeastern provinces of the country, with the aim of supplying fresh water to deprived areas with the help of the people and the IRCS.

From June 22 to September 22 in drought-ridden provinces of Sistan-Baluchestan, South Khorasan, Kerman, and Hormozgan, people can participate by donating bottled water, water tanks or cash, nationwide.

The campaign was first held in August 2018, in the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan which went into trouble after the Hamoun wetland drained and the rainless sky left many in dire need of drinking water.

Precipitation has decreased by 50 percent compared to last year, so this year the project will be implemented more vigorously, Mohammad Nasiri, head of the IRCS volunteer organization said, YJC reported on Tuesday.

The campaign has two main aspects; the first one centers on water supply issues including desalination of water, rehabilitation of qanats, improving wells and water quality, filtering and sanitation of reservoirs. And the second aspect focuses on health issues including health care services, free diagnosis, and etc., he explained.

Based on the latest data published by National Drought Warning and Monitoring Center affiliated to Iran’s Meteorological Organization, since the current crop year (September 23, 2020), South Khorasan has received 59.7 millimeters of rainfall while the long-term averages are 110.5 millimeters. Last year during the same period, 156.4 millimeters of precipitation reported. So that the province is short of rain compared to both last year and long-run.

Precipitation in Sistan-Baluchestan province decreased to 15.3 millimeters from 165.9 millimeters in the previous water year, demonstrating a 90.8 percent decline. The amount also dropped in comparison to the long-term average of 84.6 mm, being short of rain by 81.9 percent.

Hormozgan province also has not met the normal averages, receiving 20.3 millimeters of rain while it reported raining 303.3 millimeters in the previous water year, showing a 93.3 percent drop, while it also experienced rainfall shortage in comparison to the long-term mean by 93.3 percent.

Kerman also received low precipitation compared to both the long-term average and last year.

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Over the last two years, Iran was doused with rain which was unprecedented during the past 50 years, but last year, unfortunately, the country faced drought, which shows a 40 percent decrease in rainfall, he explained.

He went on to note that for example, Sistan-Baluchestan and Hormozgan had a decline of 80 to 85 percent compared to the average rainfall, and among all, only four provinces received normal rainfall, which may cause drought this year, so that we need to strengthen watershed and aquifer infrastructure.

Watershed management is a solution to strengthen the ecosystem in the face of subsequent droughts by penetrating rainfall into the ground, he said.

Referring to the importance of watershed management, Hosseinpour noted that watershed management in the wet season will reduce flood damage, drought, and water shortage problems, in addition to stabilizing the ecosystem of the region.

“We are in dire need of infrastructure development, and the implementation of activities at the level of one million hectares per year, given the climate change conditions and the problems of drought and floods in the country, should be three or four times higher,” he concluded.

Wet spell

Rainfall extremes over the past three years slowly questioned the conception that Iran is experiencing a long-term drought and some of the experts announced that a wet spell will embrace the country.

So, some experts claimed that Iran has entered a period of a wet spell after experiencing dry spells over the past few decades, some others highly rejected the claim implying that the country faced a lack of rain by 50mm over the past 5 decades.

Climate disruption or global climate disruption, is the new term scientists are using to explain the extreme fluctuations that can and will occur to our weather systems as anthropogenic-caused carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases increase in our atmosphere, the oceans get warmer, and weather events go wild.

The report regrets that climate disruption will be continuing as climate change is on the rise and it calls on taking proper and effective measures to alleviate the adverse effects of climate change on the country.

In fact, experiencing two or three consecutive years of rainy days cannot ensure that drought no longer hits the country, but then it may enter a multi-year drought.

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