I fear you will never reach the Kaaba, O Bedouin,
For the path you are taking leads to Turkestan.”
The vast land of Iran, throughout its long history, has always faced water scarcity. The inhabitants of this land, through intelligent use and careful management of limited water resources to increase water-use efficiency, had achieved notable successes. As a consequence of this harsh climate, resilience, foresight, and frugality became inherent qualities of the Iranian people. This mindset has also found expression in our literature:
When your income is small, spend more slowly,
For sailors sing this ancient tune:
If rain does not fall upon the mountains,
In a year even the Tigris will become a dry stream.
The “income” of this dry and semi-arid land—its precipitation—and, by extension, the underground water reserves, lakes, wetlands, marshes, water reservoirs, and cisterns blessed by it, have always been sources of life. In recent decades, however, with the spread of new technologies, short-sighted exploitation, unsustainable development, disregard for climate change and global warming, much of these reserves have been squandered through wastefulness, extravagance, and unplanned consumption—and are still being depleted until the very bottom of the pot is scraped clean. Hoping to “manage” this limited income, the construction of dams has ignored the rightful share of wetlands and the ecosystems along river paths. Therefore, to pass through this difficult bottleneck, we need intelligent and holistic solutions. High-level water resource planners must pursue programs that enhance resilience, improve water-use efficiency, promote aquifer management, prioritize land-use planning, and incorporate foresight and monitoring of climatic changes. The fundamental question is: to what extent are we aware of the trends and impacts of these human-made interventions and the resulting climate changes—and if we are aware, what solutions have we devised to overcome them?
“Wait until the dawn of your fortune breaks,
For this is still but the outcome of early dawn.”
Modern scientific findings indicate that as jet streams shift toward the poles, the “atmospheric rivers” that accompany them—carrying vast amounts of water vapor—also shift. These findings show that jet streams and atmospheric rivers no longer follow their historical paths; instead, they have moved several degrees of latitude toward the poles. This shift has caused major changes in weather patterns. As a result, precipitation trends are undergoing drastic transformations, and subtropical latitudes—such as Iran—will be among the biggest losers in this transition. This poleward shift of jet streams may bring about an even drier and hotter climate in Iran and rainfall becomes less frequent, but much more intense and torrential. Perhaps:
“Without enduring hardship, one finds no treasure;
Without the passing of night, no dawn appears.”
To endure this hardship of water scarcity and drought and to usher in the light, the careful management of limited precipitation—toward shaping a better future for the country—requires firm determination, increased water-use efficiency and increased resilience.