Water industry spokesperson recounts special measures to prevent unauthorized withdrawal from agricultural wells

According to Energy Press, “Issa Bozorgzadeh” said in an interview with the Ministry of Energy’s Information Center (PAWN): “In the eighth chapter of the Seventh Development Plan, which is dedicated to the issue of “water”, very good articles and clauses have been foreseen for reforming water governance and management.”
The spokesperson for the country’s water industry continued by adding: “In Table 7, Article 37 of this plan, it is predicted that the amount of agricultural water consumption will reach 65 billion cubic meters and 15 billion cubic meters of imbalances will be eliminated, which is a very important goal.”
He noted: This goal is also consistent with other existing documents, including the “Water Roadmap” and the “National Knowledge-Based Food Security Document.”
According to him, this important goal was extensively discussed and reviewed in the 46th and 47th, as well as five meetings of the specialized committee of the Supreme Water Council.
Bozorgzadeh added: “Members of the Supreme Water Council are planning to determine the amount of water consumption reduction in each of the plains and watersheds, separated by type of consumption (drinking, health, agriculture, industry, and environmental goals). A very important part of this has been done and will be finalized soon.”
Regarding the solutions foreseen to resolve the water imbalance, the spokesperson for the country’s water industry stated: “In this regard, first, special and serious measures have been put on the agenda in relation to the management of unauthorized water withdrawals, including unauthorized wells and authorized wells.”
He listed increasing productivity as another issue and stated: “Mechanisms such as the productivity market can help in adjusting the agricultural load; criteria have been considered for adjusting the agricultural load.”
Bozorgzadeh clarified in this regard: “Lands with low agricultural productivity, lands located in high water and requiring a lot of energy to pump water, lands where water consumption affects subsidence and drying of wetlands, and lands that produce non-strategic products are considered as criteria that are used in productivity and we are focusing on them, because we are trying to carefully implement the provisions of the National Knowledge-Based and Food Security Document.”