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Iran’s Water
Crisis Script V01 |
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Problem
Statement |
It’s hard to imagine life without water but in the Middle East, that’s an increasingly troubling prospect. In this fragile region, water scarcity has been been linked to mass migration, drought, food shortages and political instability. Here in Iran, years of stifling international sanctions have put pressure on an already deteriorating water management system. But as Iranians watch their precious bodies of water disappear and international restrictions ease, there is a new understanding that in order to survive change needs to happen. |
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VO1 |
Esfahan, the cultural heartbeat of
central Iran. I’m here to meet global water expert Dr Kaveh Madani.
He’s asked me
to meet him along the Zayandeh Rud, the river which gave birth to this
ancient city. |
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01:00 Dr Kaveh Madani, Imperial College London |
GD: Hi Dr Madani, this isn’t at all what I was expecting. What happened to the famous life giver, the ZayandehRood? KM: For the past few years we have been seeing it like this. A few months of a flow every year and then the rest of the time you get this. It’s
officially a dead river I guess. |
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01:25 |
GD: These massive cracks that we are seeing in a once flowing thousand year old river, is this a man-made problem? KM: Unfortunately, yes. I’m not saying that nature had no affect on this. We have exhausted the water upstream and this is what we are left with. GD: What the water upstream being used for? KM: Mostly agriculture. Nationally we use around 90% of the water in the AG sector. That’s common in the dry areas of the world where you want to grow food. Wherever you irrigate, you run out of water and that’s a general rule. |
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02:08 |
KM: This is really a symbol of what is happening at a wider scale, at a national scale in this country. GD: And what is happening right now? KM: River and lakes are going dry one after another, we’re losing wetlands, we’re seeing land subsidence, we’re seeing desertification which is really sad. KM: We have been determined to maximise our water use, to extract water from any source possible, to move it from one location to another and this is what we see as a result. This is what I call water bankruptcy. |
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02:39 |
KM: Do you see that? GD: The sprinklers? KM: Yeah. GD: What’s wrong with that? KM: That’s the problem. That’s the mentality. We don’t get it. Look at this. Look all around the river, the riverbeds are green and we have a river that is gone. |
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3:10 VOXPOPS CORRECTION -
pedal boats |
GD: I wanted to ask you what happened to the Zayandehrood. How did it look before? Mother: It was beautiful. Every time I’d come here i’d throw bread for the birds. Man: Every time we lose something, we understand how much it’s worth. Girl in chador:
We used to come here with family and ride the pedal boats. |
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03:40 |
GD: What a view. I can imagine when it was full, that people must have loved it. KM: Exactly. It’s just so sad. GD: So what would you say are the root causes of the crisis? How did we get to this place? KM: I generally think that there are three main causes. One being the rapid population growth in less than two decades the population of Iran doubled. The second cause is inefficient agricultural sector. it’s been very important for us over the years of war with Iraq and after that during the sanctions. So it was natural to be really worried about food self-sufficiency and food availability in this country. And the third cause being mismanagement. Water is also linked to so many things and unless we understand and appreciate the linkages and this complexity, we cannot solve this crisis. |
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04:30 VO2 |
While many Iranians are grieving the loss of the Zayandeh Rud river, there is a greater and more invisible crisis underground. I’m traveling into Iran’s farming heartland, to meet Geoscientist Maryam Dehghani. She’s investigating Iran’s groundwater crisis. Over the past 50 years, Iran has extracted 70 percent of its groundwater supplies mainly to support farming.
The arid southwest province of Sirjan which relies heavily on pistachio farming is now running on empty. |
http://phys.org/news/2016-09-iran-pistachio-farms-dying-thirst.html#jCp |
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SIRJAN Dr Maryam Daghani Geoscientist, University of Shiraz |
GD: What do you have here? MD: This is the city of Sirjan and you can see here the areas that show the subsidence. GD: So these are the groundwater depletion hotspots. Is that correct? MD: Exactly. GD: What exactly is subsidence? MD: When you extract the water, the empty spaces left behind collapse in on themselves. GD: So should we be worried about the groundwater levels in Sirjan? MD: Yeah. The aquifers lose their capability to capture the water so we have run off, we have floods and sinkholes can damage the roads, the infrastructures. GD: So shall we go and find ourselves some sinkholes? MD: Yes, of course. |
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05:49 |
GD: And does it collapse all at once or over time? MD: It’s collapses in one second. GD: So sinkholes and land subsidences are all indications on the ground of a much deeper problem. MD: You can see the farmland on the opposite side of the road, they are connected. When you extract the groundwater from one point, the groundwater level drops. GD: People are over exploiting the water and are not paying attention to the aquifer underneath. |
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VO3 06:22 |
In the past decade, 15% of this region’s pistachio trees have died, forcing farmers to abandon their lands and homes. At this rate, more than half of Iran’s provinces could become uninhabitable within 15 years, displacing millions. |
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06:38 |
MD: Five years ago, everything here was green. GD: And its all dried up in such a short amount of time? MD: Yeah. GD: Is this region able to support pistachio farms anymore? MD: I think it’s can’t. Because there is no more water to irrigate the farms. GD: So what happens now? What do you tell the farmer and the family like the people over there we should see if they are home. What do you tell them when the water runs out. MD: It’s impossible. We can’t do anything for these areas. |
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07:15 |
GD: What do you think? Is anyone home? MD: I don’t know. GD: Salam. GD: What does it make you feel when you see this. MD: Terrifiying. I think it’s very terrifying I think. I think in a few years everywhere will be like this. GD PTC: I think the fear for Maryam is that this is just the beginning. That this entire iconic region might become uninhabitable. Just disappear. |
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VO4 |
Until very recently, pistachios were Iran’s main export after crude oil and the province which Sirjan sits in was one of the largest producers in the world, contributing to a billion dollar industry. But now farmers that remain are struggling to survive without water. I’ve left Maryam to speak with meet a family still trying to eek out a living. |
http://phys.org/news/2016-09-iran-pistachio-farms-dying-thirst.html#jCp |
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08:14 MR M A ASSADI |
GD: Salam. GD: How many years have you been working in pistachio farms? ME: I’m 65 years and I have been farming for 50 years. GD: Now that there is no water, what is your work like? ME: We have such troubles. Our children’s lives and our lives have become so much harder. How are we supposed to live here? Everyone has packed up and gone to the cities. MA: forty to fifty years ago you could dig 3 metres and reach water. Water suitable for drinking. Now it’s very bad. In this region, you have to go as far down as 200 meters. GD: The water is completely contaminated as they have been digging into the aquifer so much that they’ve had leech in from the nearby salt lake. So it’s not just lack of water, it also saltwater entering the supplies that they use for farming. |
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08:54 |
ME: Look this land is dry and the future will be worse. The future of pistachios is gone, there’s no water. GD: It’s very scary. ME: Scary. GD: Can you show me on this land, how water scarcity has damaged it? ME: Yes, I can. GD: Ten years ago they a nice diversity of crops but as the trade in pistachios started really bringing in money and was really profitable, everybody went and invested in pistachio farming and now the future is completely bleak because they’ve only invested in one crop. ME: You see these pistachios. It’s all black here. because of lack of water, it’s tips are all burned. How am I supposed to pick this pistachio and live from it. Only because of lack of water. |
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11:05 |
GD: People say, in terms of water scarcity, Iran’s future needs to have a lot less farming. ME: How am I going to go and find other jobs. What job can I find. I’m illiterate, all I know is farming and my children are the same. We expect from our government to help the farmers. GD: Shall we go? ME: Yes, let’s go. |
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10:11 |
GD: What do you think the future of this land is? Neighbouring farmer: If there is no water. Nothing. And no one has given it any thought. In the next 20 years, no one can stay here. This child who is two years old. In 22 years he won’t have water to wash his face. |
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VO5 10:38 |
Iran is clearly
facing a huge and unprecedented crisis and without the government support -
it’s hard to see any hope of resolution. I’m in Tehran, to meet Massoumeh Ebetekar, the country’s VP and head of environmental protection. |
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QUESTIONS: |
GD: Would you say that Iran is currently facing a water crisis? Ebtekar: Yes. Iran like many countries in the region is facing water scarcity. We need to change the current water management and water consumption patterns in order to be able to deal with this. GD: Currently the ag sector uses 90% of the water on this country,, how are you planning to reform farming? EBETKAR: We actually started a project with rural farmers in helping to change their current crop patterns, their irrigation methods educating them training them. About 300 villages are directly involved. GD: How much do you feel that international sanctions have added to the escalation of the current crisis? Ebtekar: We had a lot of pressure on our economy to produce more crop. We need to take off the pressure from our national resources, our environment and ecosystems and the lifting of the sanctions can help in that regard. GD: Many people were expecting big changes after the sanctions environmentally. But duststorms, air pollution and water scarcity issues are still all too common. Why haven’t results come sooner? E: One of the reasons that we haven’t seen the results come that quickly is because of the hurdles that we face - especially in the banking sector. It seems the US is not playing it’s role and not fulfilling its responsibilities as in the agreement. Conflicts or political conflicts shouldn't overshadow environmental cooperation. And it has. |
https://www.theguardian.com/world/iran-blog/2016/sep/23/iran-lake-urmia-environment |
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VO6 12:26 |
Although farming takes the lion’s share of water in the country, Iran’s tap water use is still 70% above the global average. Years of heavily subsidised water rates means people haven’t been brought up with a conservation mindset. In a country where half the population is under 35, the government and NGOs are tapping into social media to get the word out. But is it working? |
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12:50 |
BLONDE: I think people see it and say wow but it’s not much more than a like, a thought, a share. STONER: When it comes to using water no one is thinking about that post. BLUE: There’s an application, drop by drop. It’s a campaign that people join for getting information out about the water crisis and stopping the losing of water. GLASSES: I think it’s had an effect over the past few years. |
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VO7 13:15 |
Unsurprisingly, those who really understood the power of social media and the image in this crisis were photographers. Solmaz Daryani and Meysam Mir Zendededel are two young photojournalists who helped bring global attention to one of this crisis’ greatest victim - Lake Urmia. Once the Middle East’s largest saltwater lake, it has now shrunk to 10% it’s former size. Located in the north west of the country, it was a popular holiday haven. Today it has been reduced to a few patches of incredibly salty water. This hypersalinity has triggered an algae and bacterial bloom that has transformed the once turquoise waters to crimson. |
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14:00 |
GD: I feel like I’ve landed on another planet. When was the first time you came to Lake Urmia for photography? MZ: I started three years ago. I felt somehow I had to show what had happened. GD: How do you think your photos made this issue bigger and more important for people? SD: A light went off for the people and they realised what was happening because the government know and were saying for years and years we need to save water. MZ: If people hear something until they see that picture and footage it’s as if they don’t believe it. GD: So do you believe that your picture but pressure on people and the government to wake up? MZ: I am hopeful that by seeing what’s happening here people will understand that water is something that has a limit. It finishes. That’s why you have to use it wisely. MZ: The effects of the lake don’t just affect Iran. The Tsunami of salt that people are talking about ●
If the lake become completely dry… All the surrounding countries, like Iraq and Turkey, will be affected as well. MZ: This is the salt I was talking about. GD PTC: This salt that appears so innocent can absolutely destroy the industry around. If it gets into the soil it can completely dry it out and it’s not good for people’s health so you can understand why this lake needs to be full of water so that this salt doesn’t start travelling around in the wind. |
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VO8 15:39 |
Solmaz grew up around the lake
and knows first hand the impact of
water scarcity. Her family used to run a popular guesthouse and rent
peddleboats. Their lives were closely tied to the lake. |
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15:52 |
GD: This is the lake? SD: We are going to go and see this part of it. Its all dry now. GD: Do you remember the first time that you noticed something was wrong? Grandma: I remember it was around this time. The number of guests was going down. My son used to own a small shop the water passed under here… the water one day didn’t reach the shop. From that time the water disappeared. Grandma: Everyone was sad GD: From when did you close the doors the guesthouse? SD: Every year there were less and less guests. it was not an overnight things. It happened for 10, 5 years and then one day they closed it. |
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correction - effect |
GD: Did you ever think to yourself that this guesthouse will always stay in your family. SD: Until you lose something that you realise how much it was worth. MUM: It’s had a huge effect on us, it’s as if we are now grieving, the nature of the lake made out spirit happy. GD: Don’t be upset the lake will come back. Grandma: God willing. My heart is bright. The lake will return. |
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17:30 |
SD: This area was where I started my photography. It’s almost as if the feeling of death and ruin is felt the strongest here. GD: If it’s something very sad for your and your family, why do you always come and photography it? SD: It was the upset that motivated me to start here. Because I had a story to tell. But this is a very important thing for me. Where I think the spirit and feelings I got here from this nature. It paved the way for me to be interested in photography. |
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18:11 |
GD: That famous photo you took that the actor and activist Leonardo DiCaprio put on his instagram was from around here, wasn’t it? SD: It was here that all that salt and wood could be seen. GD: When he shared that photo with the world, everybody knew the story of Lake Urmia. SD: It found global support and it’s as if peoples’ voices were finally heard. |
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VO9 |
Like Solmaz’s family, many people living around Lake Urmia, depend on it for their livelihood. An estimated 5 million farmers live in its vicinity. I’ve met up with Ismael Ahangari a community field worker who has embedded himself in these farming communities. He has been working on a pilot project funded by the government and UNDP promoting farming techniques that help conserve water. The project involves 300 villages and if successful, could be an important first step in tackling the crisis. |
Sourced from UNDP. |
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19:30 CORRECTION: 'reservoir' |
GD: How many dams are around the lake? IA: about 71. These all block the water that was headed towards Lake Urmia. The dams are mostly used for farming. Now that we are directing the water manually from the dam, our water efficiency levels are very low. 80% of the water is wasted. The systems are antiquated. They didn’t put in proper training in place for the farmers. They don’t properly understand irrigation. Clearly we weren’t able to manage our water well. |
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20:06 CORRECTION - pumpkins |
GD: Who are we going to meet now? IA: We are going to meet a farmer from the small town of Gol. He was one of the first to sign onto the programme. GD: Salam. IA introduced GD: So you were one of the first to sign up for the programme? Farmer: Yes, in the programme there was 30 farmers. They taught these techniques and tactics in the field. GD: I see you have pumpkins here. Farmer: Yes. every year we change the crops. One year pumpkins, one year beets, one year wheat. GD: Is this a new technique? Farmer: Yes. Wheat and pumpkins use much less water and their water usage efficiency is much better. GD: One thing I've noticed about farmers is that they don’t like to change their techniques. How come you were able to change so easily and quickly? Farmer: We had a big problem. We had no water. The wells had gone down. We had to change our farming. GD: Can you please show me other changes you made to your practices? Famers: Now with this hose, we can transport the water easily. GD: What did you do before? Farmer: Before it was from that ditch. The would evaporates. Now in this new system, our water usage has gone down. It’s also very affordable. |
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GD: Let’s follow the water. Is this freshwater? Farmer: Yes. GD: And it comes from underground? |
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VO10 21:50 |
The new water conserving farming techniques take the pressure off the farmers from drilling deeper and deeper for fresh water. This allows the aquifer time to replenish naturally and safeguards the groundwater for the future. |
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Farmer: Now, in this region, farmers have mostly changes their lands to rain irrigation. Before we would just flood the field and most of it would evaporate. It was wasted. With this rain irrigation system it’s not like that. We can easily say we are saving 40 - 50% of our water. GD: And was it expensive for you to install these? Farmer: No, these were provided by the government. GD: They helped? Farmer: Yes, there was subsidies and a bit from our own pockets. GD: Do you think that… . [splashed by rain] Farmer: That’s rain irrigation for you! |
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VO11 |
All of the systems that the farmers
have implemented here are helping to save water. If these systems were rolled
out nationwide, it could really make a difference. |
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23:01 |
Farmer: It’s made the farmers lives easier, increases yield and reduces cost. GD: Is it all on the shoulders of the famers to bring us out of the water crisis? Farmer: It’s not all on the farmer’s shoulders. City dwellers can help too with water conservation. When the water finishes, it doesn’t just end for the farmers. We can send a
message to all of Iran that inshalla Iran will have water again. |
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VO12 23:50 |
The project here in Lake Urmia may seem like a small step but it’s an important start. Iran has finally acknowledged the scale of the crisis on it’s hand, and it is beginning to tackle it. But if these hopeful starts don’t lead to more action on the ground - and soon - the entire region will face the prospect of even more loss and instability. ` One thing is for certain, this is a critical time for Iran. |
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