Crisis looms at Tehran dams as 14 reservoirs fall below 10% capacity

Fourteen dams across Iran's most densely populated provinces remain below 10% capacity, with reservoirs supplying Tehran continuing to decline despite recent rainfall and heavy snow around the capital city, data from Iran's Water Resources Management Company as of January 30 showed.

Decades of overbuilding and mismanagement of some 600 dams have left Iran with silted, leaky reservoirs and critically low storage levels, turning key infrastructure into a driver of today’s nationwide water crisis. In the summer of 2025, Tehran, along with several other large cities, was urged to reduce its consumption as the dams that feed the city completely dried up.

Amir Kabir Dam stood at just 3% capacity, Lar Dam at 1% and Latyan at 7%. Lar Dam's water reserves remained unchanged for a full month despite rainfall, while both Amir Kabir and Latyan-Mamlu saw their levels drop by 4% and 8%, respectively, from the previous period, indicating that consumption in the Tehran region exceeded inflows.

Dams in Tehran, Alborz, Isfahan, and Khorasan Razavi provinces are all below 10%, and the Sefid Rud Dam in Gilan, one of the country's key rice-producing areas, has reached only 10% of its capacity.

Anoush Esfandiari, a member of Iran's Water Management Think Tank, said there was "little hope" of meeting environmental water allocation targets given that drinking water and agricultural needs would take priority.

Although laws have been revised to elevate environmental water rights to second priority, he said this was not being observed in practice when major population centres faced such shortages, with residents carrying on regardless.

Esfandiari pointed to four systemic problems affecting Iran's major cities. Groundwater is being used to irrigate green spaces in urban areas, despite the need to preserve these reserves to prevent land subsidence.

"Tehran is the worst affected, with efforts to seal wells having stalled over disagreements on pricing".

High losses in ageing distribution networks have led water managers to reduce pipeline pressure to curb leaks, but this has forced residents to install private pumps and storage tanks. The negative pressure created by these pumps allows contamination to enter the network, and the intermittent cutting and reconnecting of water supplies allows bacteria from stagnant water in unoccupied homes to re-enter the system, degrading water quality.

The situation has become so acute in recent months that officials have warned that the capital's days may be over. Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian earlier stated that Tehran may be forced to implement a partial evacuation of its population if rainfall does not occur by the end of December and dams remain empty.

The President’s call was backed by Darioush Mokhtari, a senior water resource management expert. He said that even with the complete depletion of dams and reduced flow from some drinking-water wells, part of Tehran's water needs can still be met; however, people may have to be relocated as water supplies decline. The situation has become so acute in recent hours that Friday Prayer leader Ahmad Khatami also mentioned the need to conserve water to parishioners at Tehran University.

"This time period is exactly the critical point - a situation that cannot be passed without temporary evacuation of part of the city's population," he said.

With more than 200 days of drought, officials have begun drafting worst-case scenarios to cope with dwindling supplies. Following warnings about plummeting water levels and the need for public restraint, Energy Minister Abbas Aliabadi recently cautioned that authorities might be forced to reduce water pressure to zero on some nights, a measure that, according to social media, is already occurring in parts of the city.

Earlier in November, the previous Friday Prayer leader for Tehran, Ahmad Khatami, warned people to conserve water, but his call to action fell on deaf ears, according to the latest data. 

“This is a global issue. Prayer for rain has been held across Islamic countries, too,” he said. 

“Wastefulness is forbidden. If you see someone wasting water, advise them properly. I ask people to manage consumption,” he said. His remarks come amid a prolonged drought, with much of the country enduring a rainless autumn that has deepened concerns over the country’s water crisis.

Since the start of the current water year on 23 September 2025 through early January 2026, Iran has received about 76 mm of rain on average nationwide, which is roughly 70–80% more than at the same point last year but still only modestly above the long‑term norm after an exceptionally dry 2024–25. Tehran province received about 21–25 mm of rain from the start of the water year (23 Sept 2025) through early January 2026, a stark 76.9% deficit vs. the long-term average (~93 mm) and roughly 90% less than the ~43 mm in the same early-season period last year, Tehran Times previously reported.