TEHRAN –Nearly 37 billion cubic meters of water is stored behind the dams across Iran, indicating that 71 percent of the capacity of the country’s dams is full, a report by Iran Water Resources Management (IWRM) said.

Based on the report published by the IWRM Office of Water Resources Basic Studies, currently, the total volume of water stored behind the country’s dams stands at 36.89 billion cubic meters, five percent less than the figure for the previous year, Tasnim reported.

As reported, since the beginning of the current water year (September 23, 2019) up to July 3, 2020, the total volume of water inflow to the reservoirs of the country's dams stood at 51.41 billion cubic meters while the water outflow was reported to be 42.95 billion cubic meters.

In the previous Iranian calendar year’s same period, the water inflow to the country's dams stood at 83.63 billion cubic meters while the outflow was 64.82 billion cubic meters.

Based on the IWRM data, compared to the figures for the previous water year the volume of water entering the country's dams has decreased by 39 percent and the outflow has also declined by 34 percent.

Back in March, IWRM Managing Director Mohammad Rasouliha said more than 30 billion cubic meters of water was stored behind the country’s dams.

Following the coronavirus outbreak in Iran, water consumption increased dramatically in March so that the energy ministry urged people to manage their consumption in peak consumption hours.

Earlier in February, Iran’s deputy energy minister had said that over 50 percent of the capacity of the country’s dams were filled and the rest was kept for flood management.

Last year, the volume of water behind Iran’s dams went so down that the country faced serious problems regarding power generation by hydro-electric power plants.

EF/MA