TEHRAN — Water is dirt cheap in Iran, an official with the Department of Environment said, regretting that no one seems to care about water economy and this is the driver of the nation’s thoughtless overconsumption.

Phasing out water subsidies and regulation of pricing policies regarding water would help in addressing water shortage, ISNA quoted Ali Moridi as saying on Sunday.
In lieu of paying subsidies the government could allot the funds to provide the citizens with water conservation devices, the expert suggested. 

He went on to say that the government is certainly concerned about water shortage and feel the obligation to respond to its threats but some officials still believe that right prices of water would affect the livelihood of people and put people into a lot of expenses but these are just “a bear’s service”. 

Raising public awareness and encouraging public participation by educating them about water shortage would enable them to fight water shortage, he added. 

According to CETAQUA water economy means the definition and analysis of indicators related to the environmental efficiency of businesses, emphasizing the water footprint of products, processes and production units, combined with the development of cost-effective and cost-benefit methodologies to support decision making.

Consumers have little incentive to conserve as water isn’t priced in a way that encourages conservation right pricing policies would definitely result in water conservation and even increases the revenues earned by the government and can be spent on water conservation methods as well, Moridi highlighted. 

According to the European Commission in many parts of the world, demand for water is outstripping the availability of water. Water is increasingly seen as a scarce resource that has an economic value, and thus needs to be managed carefully to ensure that it is used effectively. This needs to be achieved whilst managing competing demands for water from different water users, such as households, industry and agriculture, as well as ensuring the environment has enough water to sustain ecosystems. Setting the price of water is a key tool used to support water management decisions; water that is underpriced may lead to its unsustainable use.

MQ/MG