Official figures expose the depth of Iran’s water emergency, while the ruling establishment responds with repression instead of solutions Iran’s water crisis has reached a stage where even official statistics can no longer conceal the scale of the disaster. Reports published by state-affiliated media show that a large share of the country’s dam reservoirs are effectively empty, pushing drinking water and agricultural supply—especially in Tehran—into a red-alert situation. At the same time, the regime has offered no structural response to this crisis, continuing instead down a path defined by repression and coercion.
According to a report published by the state-run outlet ILNA on February 6, total water inflow into Iran’s dam reservoirs by February 1 of the 2026 water year stood at approximately 7.34 billion cubic meters. This represents a 4 percent decline compared to the same period last year. Total stored water in dams has fallen to about 18.77 billion cubic meters, a 16 percent year-on-year decrease. Most strikingly, official figures now admit that 64 percent of dam reservoirs across the country are empty. These numbers confirm what communities across Iran have been experiencing for years: the water crisis is not temporary, regional, or accidental. It is systemic and nationwide.
Tehran on the Edge of a Water Emergency
The situation in the dams supplying Tehran and Alborz Province is even more alarming. The Amir Kabir (Karaj) Dam reportedly holds only six million cubic meters of water, with a fill level of just 1 percent. The Lar Dam is in a similarly dire state, containing around ten million cubic meters—also at roughly 1 percent capacity. Other key reservoirs tell the same story. The Latian and Mamloo dams are each at just 8 percent capacity, while the Taleghan Dam stands at 21 percent. Taken together, these figures place the capital squarely in a critical water emergency, raising serious concerns about the sustainability of urban life, public health, and food security.
A Crisis Years in the Making
Water scarcity is only one of many accumulated crises facing Iran, but it is among the most revealing. Decades of mismanagement, environmentally destructive development, corruption, and the prioritization of ideological and military projects over public welfare have drained the country’s natural resources. Despite repeated warnings from experts, the ruling establishment has failed to make meaningful investments in sustainable water management or climate adaptation. More fundamentally, there has been no accountability. Officials rotate, slogans change, but policies remain locked into a system that treats public needs as secondary to regime survival. (Read More)
