The country’s historic drought has resulted in a “100 percent reduction in rainfall” in the Tehran region.
Published November 2, 2025
The main source of drinking water for residents of Iran’s capital Tehran is at risk of running out within two weeks due to the historic drought plaguing the country, state media said.
The Amir Kabir dam, one of the five dams providing drinking water to Tehran, “has only 14 million cubic meters of water, which is 8 percent of its capacity,” Behzad Parsa, director of the capital’s water company, told IRNA news agency on Sunday.
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He warned that these levels would only keep Tehran supplied with water for “two weeks.”
The announcement comes as the country experiences its worst drought in decades. Rainfall levels in Tehran province were “almost unprecedented in the last 100 years,” local officials declared last month.
The megacity of more than 10 million people sits on the southern slopes of the often snow-capped Alborz Mountains, which rise 5,600 meters (18,370 feet) above sea level and whose rivers feed several reservoirs.
A year ago, the Amir Kabir dam was holding back 86 million cubic meters of water, but “precipitation has decreased by 100 percent” in the Tehran region, Partha said.
Parsa did not provide details about the status of other reservoirs in the system.
According to Iranian media, Tehran’s population consumes about 3 million cubic meters of water every day.
Power outages have been frequent this summer, reportedly as a water-saving measure, and supplies have been cut off in several areas in recent days.
Two public holidays were declared in July and August to conserve water and energy, and power outages occurred almost every day in Tehran amid a heatwave that saw temperatures exceed 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) and exceed 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit) in some areas.
“The water crisis is more serious than what is being discussed today,” Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian warned at the time.
Water shortages are a major problem throughout Iran, especially in the arid regions of the south, and are said to be caused by mismanagement of underground resources, overfishing, and the increasing effects of climate change.
Iran’s neighbor Iraq is experiencing its driest year since 1993 as the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, which flow from West Asia into the Persian Gulf, have seen water levels drop by up to 27% due to reduced rainfall and upstream water withdrawal restrictions, leading to a severe humanitarian crisis in the country’s south.
