Overview
- Iran has imposed nightly water pressure reductions across Tehran, with officials warning some districts could see flows drop to zero and signaling citywide rationing by late November or December if rains do not arrive.
- The five dams supplying the capital are at critical levels, with Amir Kabir at about 8% capacity, and Tehran’s reservoirs holding roughly half their usual volume, a level officials say could be exhausted within two weeks at current use.
- Nationwide, 19 major dams — about 10% of total reservoir capacity — are effectively dry, while Mashhad’s reserves have fallen below 3% and several local dams are out of operation.
- Authorities are pursuing short-term steps including temporary transfers, cloud seeding, and urging households to install storage tanks, as the energy minister says night flows may be cut to zero to refill city reservoirs.
- Experts tie the emergency to long-running mismanagement, overpumped aquifers and record heat, with reports of ground subsidence near 300 millimeters a year in parts of Tehran and early campus protests adding to political pressure.