The Gavkhooni Wetland, which have been dry for the past 10 years, finally collected some water again this year, but report indicate that local authorities diverted the water toward various uses and left the wetlands dried out again.
Ana News reports that Isfahan Province’s demand for drinking water as well as water for industrial and agricultural purposes forced provincial officials to redirect the scant water that had gathered in the Gavkhooni Wetland to meet these needs and leave the wetlands dry again.
An advisor to the Department of the Environment, Esmail Kahrom, has cited the authorities’ mismanagement of water resources as a major factor in the drying out of 600 lakes, ponds and wetlands across Iran, exacerbating the effects of declining rainfall. Overt dam-building and the establishment of industries incompatible with the climate of those cities are among the discredited policies.
Kahrom said the steel industry, which requires six thousand litres of water per kilogram of output, or the cultivation of melons, which requires three thousand litres water for each melon to reach fruition, or the cultivation of rice and even the transfer of water from Isfahan to neighbouring provinces are serious signs of a lack of a comprehensive plan for the management of the local water resources.
The Gavkhooni Wetland covers an area of 476,000 square kilometres in southeastern Isfahan.
