Minister of Energy: Despite the rains, the country is still under severe water stress

According to Energy Press, this morning on Saturday, December 29th, “a meeting of the members of the Government Information Council with the Minister of Energy” was held with the presence of Elias Hazrati, the head of the 14th Government Information Council and Abbas Aliabadi, the Minister of Energy.
At the beginning of his speech, the Minister of Energy, Abbas Aliabadi, thanked the members of the Government Information Council and pointed out the special weather conditions of the country in recent days and said: The country was faced with severe rainfall anomalies during the past days, which made the management of dams and water and electricity infrastructures difficult.
He added: “The intensity of the rains in some southern regions of the country caused damages such as the breaking of water transmission lines and disconnection of electricity pylons, but these problems were resolved with continuous follow-up and quick actions of the Ministry of Energy in the shortest possible time.”
Expressing concern about the possible consequences of the recent rains, the Minister of Energy stated: One of our serious concerns is that the rains will lead to an increase in water consumption. Despite the recent rains, the correct pattern of water consumption should still be maintained, because even normal rainfall conditions will not be able to compensate for the low rainfall of the past few years.
In this regard, he emphasized: the projects implemented in the field of drought management should continue without interruption.
We owe 50 billion cubic meters of water to nature
Referring to the state of the country’s water resources, Aliabadi added: Currently, we owe about 50 billion cubic meters of water to nature, which has caused the loss of part of the underground water table. We can hope for a relative improvement of these conditions only if the horror continues.
He considered one of the effective measures of the Ministry of Energy in improving water management to be leak detection and removal from distribution networks and said: In the past, around 5 thousand kilometers of leak detection operations were carried out annually, but this figure has increased to 8 thousand kilometers in the current period and will continue to grow by the end of the year. This action plays an important role in reducing water wastage.
68,000 branches of water misuse were cut off
The Minister of Energy also informed about dealing with abusive customers and pointing out that one of the positive points of the recent difficulties in water supply has been the gradual improvement of the consumption pattern in different sectors, and clarified that about 68,000 branches of abusive water usage have been cut so far. The high amounts of the bills of these subscribers are not the real price of water, but a penalty for consumption outside the pattern.