DUSHANBE, September 29, 2015, Asia-Plus – Azerbaijan’s news agency
Trend
reports Iran’s water import bill is currently under consideration in Iran’s Ministry of Defense and Expediency Council.
Trend
quoted Chairman of the Iranian Parliament’s Energy Commission Ali Marvi as saying that the Ministry of Defense and the Expediency Council are among the governmental bodies to which a bill to import water from neighboring countries has been sent.
Speaking at a conference with lawmakers, water management officials, and agriculture and industry representatives on the sidelines of the 11th International Water and Wastewater Exhibition of Iran, Marvi reportedly said that importing water is one of the ideas under consideration to make up for water shortage in the country.
“There are three proposals: one is to import water from Tajikistan, the other is to import water from the Caspian Sea, and the last and strongest proposal is to import water from the Gulf of Oman, where 21 provinces would be watered from that source,” he said, adding that expert views are yet awaited to choose the best idea.
“When I was deputy oil minister, I strenuously pursued the issue of importing water from Tajikistan, so that Tajikistan would give Iran water in return for gas.”
MoUs signed by Iranian and Tajik presidents in 2011, aimed at speeding up cooperation in the fields of water and energy by the two sides.
Iran has also prepared a plan, based on which the country will import water from Georgia and Armenia to revive the dying Lake Urmia, in turn for exporting oil and gas to the mentioned countries.
The amount of precipitation has decreased in average by 25 percent, compared to previous years, Iranian Energy Minister Hamid Chitchian said on September 12.
Over 600 dams have been built in Iran over the past 30 years, holding 48 billion cubic meters of water. Iran”s renewable water resources declined from 130 billion cubic meters to 110 billion cubic meters a year.
It is not first time the subject of importing water from Tajikistan has been raised. We will recall that the head of the parliament in Iran”s Khorasan Province, Mohammad Reza Mohsin, came up with a proposal on importing water from Tajikistan in August last year. He, in particular, suggested building a pipeline. Mohsin”s idea was to get the water from Tajikistan”s Lake Sarez, which is not only located in a very active seismic zone but the lake itself is the result of a major earthquake that hit the region just over 100 years ago.
