TEHRAN — Water scarcity is not a new issue in a country like Iran which is located in an arid and semi-arid region and accepting this fact is a step towards solving water stress, Davood Parhizkar, director of Iran's Meteorological Organization (IMO) has said.

Over the past 11 years, the mean precipitations in the country has not met normal levels, ISNA quoted Parhizkar as saying on Saturday. 

Our ancestors were very well aware of the geographical and climatic characteristics of the country and that’s why they used qanats [ancient system of deep underground tunnels and wells built in the Middle East to channel water from a mountain to a dry lower region] in arid areas which indicates that they were good at managing water consumption, he explained.

IMO director went on to say that “not paying attention to distinguished climatic characteristics of each area would result in unsustainable development.”

“First we all have to accept the fact that water is scarce in our country and even over the years with higher precipitation amounts we should know that mean precipitation in Iran is one-third of the global averages.

“Secondly we need to assess all projects regarding climate change and factor in the climatic characteristic of each region in setting up such projects and avoid launching new projects had they exceed the carrying capacity of each area.

“And lastly we should create a water consumption culture so that everyone feel accountable for their water use,” he said, adding “if need be we can pass strict laws to stop wasting water.”

MQ/MG