Iran is grappling with its worst water crisis in decades, with officials warning that Tehran — a city of more than 10 million — may soon be uninhabitable if the drought gripping the country continues.

President Masoud Pezeshkian has cautioned that if rainfall does not arrive by December, the government must start rationing water in Tehran, Reuters reported.

The stakes are high for Iran’s clerical rulers. In 2021, water shortages sparked violent protests in the southern Khuzestan province. Sporadic protests also broke out in 2018, with farmers in particular accusing the government of water mismanagement.

WATER PRESSURE REDUCTIONS BEING APPLIED

The water crisis in Iran after a scorching hot summer is not solely the result of low rainfall.

Decades of mismanagement, including overbuilding of dams, illegal well drilling, and inefficient agricultural practices, have depleted reserves, dozens of critics and water experts have told state media in the past days as the crisis dominates the airwaves with panel discussions and debates.

Pezeshkian’s government has blamed the crisis on various factors such as the “policies of past governments, climate change and over-consumption”.

While there has been no sign of protests yet this time over the water crisis, Iranians are already struggling under the weight of a crippled economy, chiefly because of sanctions linked to the country’s disputed nuclear programme.

Coping with persistent water shortages strains families and communities even further, intensifying the potential for unrest, when the clerical establishment is already facing international pressure over its nuclear ambitions. Iran denies seeking nuclear weapons.

Across Iran, from the capital’s high-rise apartments to cities and small towns, the water crisis is taking hold.

When the taps went dry in her eastern Tehran apartment last week, Mahnaz had no warning and no backup.

“It was around 10 p.m., and the water didn’t come back until 6 a.m.,” she said. With no pump or storage, she and her two children were forced to wait, brushing teeth and washing hands with bottled water.

Iran’s National Water and Wastewater Company has dismissed reports of formal rationing in Tehran, but confirmed that nightly water pressure reductions were being applied in Tehran and could drop to zero in some districts, state media reported.

Pezeshkian also warned against over-consumption in July. The water authorities said at the time 70% of Tehran residents consumed more than the standard 130 litres a day.

TEHRAN’S RESERVOIRS AT AROUND HALF CAPACITY

Iranians have endured recurrent electricity, gas and water shortages during peak demand months in the past years.

“It’s one hardship after another — one day there’s no water, the next there’s no electricity. We don’t even have enough money to live. This is because of poor management,” said schoolteacher and mother of three Shahla, 41, by phone from central Tehran.

Last week, state media quoted Mohammadreza Kavianpour, head of Iran’s Water Research Institute, as saying that last year’s rainfall was 40% below the 57-year average in Iran and forecasts predict a continuation of dry conditions towards the end of December.

The capital depends entirely on five reservoirs fed from rivers outside the city. But inflow has plummeted. Behzad Parsa, head of Tehran’s Regional Water Company, said last week that water levels had fallen 43% from last year, leaving the Amir Kabir Dam at just 14 million cubic meters — 8% of capacity.

He said Tehran’s reservoirs, which collectively could once store nearly 500 million cubic meters, now hold barely 250 million, a drop of nearly half, which at current consumption rates, could run dry within two weeks.

The crisis extends far beyond Tehran. Nationwide, 19 major dams — roughly 10% of Iran’s total — have effectively run dry. In the holy Shi’ite city of Mashhad, Iran’s second-largest city, with a population of 4 million, water reserves have plunged below 3%.

“The pressure is so low that literally we do not have water during the day. I have installed water tanks but how long we can continue like this? It is completely because of the mismanagement,” said Reza, 53, in Mashhad. He said it was also affecting his business of carpet cleaning.

Like the others Reuters spoke to, he declined to give his family name.

CLIMATE CHANGE INTENSIFIED WATER LOSS

The crisis follows record-breaking temperatures and rolling power outages. In July and August, the government declared emergency public holidays to reduce water and energy consumption, shutting down some public buildings and banks as temperatures topped 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit) in some areas.

Climate change has intensified the problem, authorities say, with rising temperatures accelerating evaporation and groundwater loss.

Some newspapers have criticized the government’s environmental policies, citing the appointment of unqualified managers and the politicization of resource management. The government has rejected the claims.

Calls for divine intervention have also resurfaced.

“In the past, people would go out to the desert to pray for rain,” said Mehdi Chamran, head of Tehran’s City Council, state media reported. “Perhaps we should not neglect that tradition.”

Authorities are taking temporary measures to conserve what remains, including decreasing the water pressure in some areas and transferring water to Tehran from other reservoirs.

But these are stopgap measures, and the public has been urged to install storage tanks, pumps, and other devices to avoid major disruption.

“Too little, too late. They only promise but we see no action,” said a university teacher in the city of Isfahan, who asked not to be named. “Most of these ideas are not doable.”

The National Environmental Protection Agency (NEPA) of Afghanistan has voiced concern over the country’s exclusion from the upcoming international climate change conference in Brazil, despite Afghanistan being one of the most vulnerable nations to climate impacts. The conference is scheduled to begin tomorrow (Monday).

In an official statement, NEPA emphasized that, with a coordination mechanism and a comprehensive roadmap prepared, the Afghan delegation was fully ready to participate.

The agency also highlighted the lack of financial and technical support from global climate funds and urged the United Nations to recognize Afghanistan’s legitimate rights and ensure the country’s inclusion in such international forums.

The statement added: “The failure to invite Afghanistan’s delegation to this conference and other similar meetings demonstrates that the United Nations is not upholding global justice for the Afghan people in the area of climate change. The people of Afghanistan had the right to participate in this global forum and defend their rights.”

Afghanistan had taken part in last year’s climate change conference held in Azerbaijan.

Nearly one million people have fled their homes as Super Typhoon Fung-wong, the most powerful storm to hit the Philippines this year, began lashing the country’s northeastern coast on Sunday.

Authorities have warned that the storm’s massive wind and rain band could engulf two-thirds of the archipelago, threatening catastrophic damage just days after another deadly typhoon ravaged the region.

With winds reaching 185 kilometers per hour and gusts of up to 230 kph, Fung-wong — known locally as Uwan — was tracked near the coastal waters of Pandan, Catanduanes Province before noon Sunday.

Government forecasters said the super typhoon is expected to make landfall later Sunday or early Monday along the Aurora or Isabela coasts.

The storm comes as the nation is still reeling from Typhoon Kalmaegi, which tore through central provinces earlier in the week, killing at least 224 people and leaving widespread devastation before moving on to Vietnam, where five more people died. In response, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has declared a state of emergency, citing both the destruction from Kalmaegi and the anticipated impact of Fung-wong.

Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr., who oversees the country’s disaster response, urged residents to evacuate before conditions worsen. “We need to move people out now,” he said in a televised address. “Once the rains intensify and flooding begins, rescue operations become extremely difficult.”

More than 916,000 residents in high-risk coastal and mountain villages across the Bicol region and nearby provinces have already been evacuated. Officials warned that over 30 million people could face the storm’s effects — including flash floods, landslides, and storm surges reaching up to 3 meters along exposed coastlines, including parts of Metro Manila.

Power outages have been reported in several eastern towns as the typhoon’s outer bands moved inland. Authorities have suspended schools and government offices across northern regions for Monday and Tuesday, while airlines have canceled at least 386 domestic and international flights. More than 6,600 passengers and crew remain stranded in ports, where ships have been barred from sailing due to dangerous seas.

Despite the scale of the crisis, the Philippines has not yet requested international aid, though the United States and Japan have offered assistance if needed.

The Philippines, located along the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” is among the world’s most disaster-prone nations, enduring around 20 typhoons annually, in addition to frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

As Fung-wong advances, emergency teams remain on high alert — bracing for what could be one of the country’s most destructive storms in years.