Part 5/15:
The entire country is suffering. Early reports from IRNA highlight that 19 of Iran’s largest reservoirs are on the verge of complete dryness, with three already at 0%. Lakes like the Lake Herbia, once the largest in the Middle East, have all but vanished, leaving salty dust bowls that exacerbate respiratory problems and cause mass migrations.
A History of Unsustainable Water Management
The roots of Iran’s water disaster trace back to its mid-20th-century modernization efforts. In 1949, Shah Muhammad Raza Pahlavi visited the Hoover Dam in the US, inspired by its engineering marvels. Back home, he aimed to build extensive dams and reservoirs to manage Iran’s uneven and seasonal rainfall—high in the north near the Caspian, but sparse and unpredictable in the central and southern regions.