Tehran's Water Crisis: Unprecedented Drought Threatens Iran's Capital

Tue Nov 11 2025 04:05:51 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)

Tehran is grappling with an unprecedented water crisis due to extreme drought conditions, raising concerns about potential rationing and evacuation of the city.

Iran's capital, Tehran, faces its worst drought on record with reservoirs nearly empty and rainfall at an all-time low. Officials are urging water conservation and warning of imminent rationing. Critics challenge the idea of evacuating Tehran, while government plans to penalize excessive water use unveil the crisis's complexity. Experts attribute the dire situation to not just lack of rain but also aging infrastructure and recent geopolitical conflicts.

Iran - especially its capital, Tehran - is facing an unprecedented drought this autumn, with rainfall at record lows and reservoirs nearly empty. Officials are pleading with citizens to conserve water as the crisis deepens.

President Masoud Pezeshkian has warned that if there is not enough rainfall soon, Tehran's water supply could be rationed. But he said that even rationing might not be enough to prevent a disaster.

If rationing doesn't work, Pezeshkian said, we may have to evacuate Tehran. His comments have prompted criticism in Iranian newspapers and on social media. Former Tehran mayor Gholamhossein Karbaschi called the idea a joke and said evacuating Tehran makes no sense at all.

Iran's meteorological officials say no rainfall is expected over the next 10 days. Meanwhile, the water crisis is already affecting daily life in the capital.

I'm planning to buy water tankers to use for toilets and other necessities, a woman in Tehran told BBC Persian. In the summer, Iranian rapper Vafa Ahmadpoor posted a video on social media showing a kitchen tap with no running water.

It's been four or five hours, he said. I've bought bottled water just to be able to go to the toilet. The manager of the Latian Dam, one of Tehran's main water sources, says it now holds less than 10% of its capacity. The nearby Karaj Dam — which supplies water to both Tehran and Alborz provinces — is in a similarly dire condition.

I have never seen this dam so empty since I was born, an elderly local resident told Iranian state TV. According to Mohammad-Ali Moallem, the manager of the Karaj Dam, rainfall has plummeted dramatically.

We had a 92% decrease in rain compared to last year, he said. We have only eight percent water in our reservoir — and most of it is unusable and considered 'dead water.' The government is now pinning its hopes on late autumn rain, but forecasts are bleak. Iran's Minister of Energy, Abbas Ali Abadi, has warned the situation could soon force authorities to cut water supplies.

Officials have also announced plans to penalise households and businesses that consume excessive amounts of water. Tehran's water crisis is attributed not just to a lack of rainfall but also to aging infrastructure and geopolitical conflicts that have exacerbated the situation.

The head of Iran's National Centre for Climate and Drought Crisis Management, Ahmad Vazifeh, has warned that many provinces face a similar fate, with dwindling resources and increasing demand stressing the system further. Despite warnings from experts and leaders alike, little progress has been made in addressing these long-foreseen issues.