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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Due to the significant decrease in precipitation in the current water year (September 23, 2020) compared to the same period previous years, a proposal to provide credit to compensate for the drought damage and water shortage management throughout the country was sent to the Planning and Budget Organization, Esmail Najjar, the head of the Crisis Management Organization, said on Monday.

The proposal to allocate 3.2 trillion rials (nearly $766 million) has been made, which after approval will be spent to provide water supply to drought-ridden cities, as well as improving water quality, he stated, IRNA reported.

Rainfall drops by 54%

Precipitation in Iran amounted to 127.8 millimeters from the beginning of the current water year (September 22, 2020) until April 24, which demonstrates a 54 percent decline compared to the same period last [Iranian calendar] year.

In comparison with the long-term average (52 years), rainfall dropped by 41 percent over the aforementioned period, according to the data released by the Ministry of Energy.

Over the past water year (September 2019-September 2020), the country received 279.3 mm of rainfall.

Earlier in April, Abolghasem Hosseinpour, director of flood control at Forests, Rangelands, and Watershed Management Organization said that Iran will probably experience drought over the current [Iranian calendar] year (began on March 21), as only four provinces out of 31 provinces of the country received normal rainfall last year.

Given that Iran is an arid and semi-arid region, the rainfall rate is low, in other words, the fluctuations of rainfall vary significantly from year to year, he added.

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.

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

Wet spell or still short of rain?

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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