Water reserves in Iran’s second largest city have declined to less than 3%

The water reserve in the four dams that feed Mashhad, the second largest Iranian city, has fluctuated to less than 3%, according to what local media reported on Sunday, while the country is experiencing an unprecedented drought crisis.

The official in charge of the Water Corporation in Mashhad, Hussein Ismailian, told ISNA that the water reserve “decreased to less than 3%” in the dams of this city with a population of four million people.

At the beginning of the week, the authorities estimated the water reserve in Mashhad’s dams at 40 million cubic metres, noting that the reserve at the same time last year was 189 million.

In Tehran, one of the five dams dried up completely, while the stock in another decreased to less than 8%, according to the authorities.

Media reported that 15 out of 31 Iranian provinces did not receive a single drop of rain this fall.