TEHRAN - An official at Iran’s Water Resources Management Company claimed that 10 Iranian provinces including Ilam, South Khorasan, Khuzestan, Zanjan, Sistan and Balochestan, Qazvin, Kerman, Kermanshah, Yazd, Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad are facing severe water shortage, the Hamshahrionline reported on Thursday.

Reza Raei Ezabadi said that an additional 17 provinces are facing a similar problem; four of them, including Bushehr, Fars, Golestan and Hormozgan are challenged by water scarcity.

Ezabadi said that 23 out of the 31 provinces in Iran have experienced a significant decrease in precipitations compared to last year, adding that Hormozgan, Sistan and Balochestan, Khuzestan and Ilam provinces are the worst affected.

“The average amount of rainfall over the last month has only been one millimeter and the average rainfall since the start of the flow year (Sept. 23, 2014) has reached 283 millimeters with a 14 percent decrease on last figures,” he said.

Ezabadi explained that water scarcity means there are not sufficient available water resources to meet the demands of water usage and added that severe water shortage is one step worse, and people will face serious problems if they are not careful about their water consumption.

Ezabadi also warned that minimal rainfall was forecasted for the remaining part of the year and indicated that “we must be careful about water usage.”

“Decrease in precipitations has caused 48 percent of the capacity of the 158 dams to remain empty,” he said

“Dams have experienced a 17 percent reduction in receiving water and a five percent in exiting water compared to last year, he added.

“There are currently estimated 27 billion cubic water stored behind the dams -showing a four percent reduction in the watercourse compared to the same period last year,” he concluded.

----Iran allocates $500 million to transfer drinking water to deprived regions -------

In another report released by the IRIB, Hamidreza Janbaz, Iran’s deputy energy minister, announced that a $500 million allotted budget from National Development Fund has been put aside to channel potable water to rural and deprived areas across Iran.

Janbaz who was speaking on the sidelines of his trip to Babol, the capital of Mazandaran Province on the southern coast of the Caspian Sea, said on Thursday the figure has been included in the annual budget to transfer drinkable water to deprived areas including Mazandaran Province.