Prayers and Science: Iran's Desperate Battle Against Drought
Water scarcity has become a national obsession in Iran, where a severe drought has pushed the country to the brink. In the capital, Tehran, the situation is particularly dire, with a mere 1mm of rain recorded this year, an event classified as a once-in-a-century occurrence. This catastrophic shortfall comes on the back of five consecutive years of drought, creating a crisis that is now felt from the central plains to every corner of the nation.
A Capital Parched and Praying for Relief
The spiritual and the scientific are colliding in the search for solutions. In mosques across northern Tehran, imams have been leading congregations in special prayers for rain. Simultaneously, meteorologists are closely monitoring forecasts, with predictions of 'rain-producing clouds' making front-page news. The desperation is palpable; more than 50 days into Iran's traditional rainy season, over 20 provinces have not seen a single drop of precipitation.
The tangible impacts are stark. The number of dams holding less than 5% of their reservoir capacity has skyrocketed from eight to 32. Snow cover, a critical water source, has plummeted by 98.6% nationwide compared to the same time last year. In Tehran, unseasonably warm temperatures of 20C have replaced the usual snow season, and the price of bottled water has escalated, with limits now placed on purchases.
From Cloud Seeding to Divine Intervention
Faced with this emergency, authorities have turned to technological intervention. On a recent Sunday, they launched cloud seeding operations, a process that involves spraying particles like silver iodide and salt into clouds from aircraft in an attempt to trigger rainfall. Yet, for many citizens, the answers lie beyond science.
Organised rain prayers are being held in towns and villages across Iran, with past miracles recalled, such as the legendary rainfall in Qom in 1944 after three days of prayer. This spiritual interpretation is echoed by some conservative figures. Ayatollah Mohsen Araki has drawn a link between the drought and 'blatant debauchery on our streets', while Grand Ayatollah Javadi Amoli suggested that 'sin take(s) away the grounds for mercy'.
This has sparked a complex national debate. Some MPs have blamed the government for failing to enforce restrictive hijab laws, while supporters of President Masoud Pezeshkian have pointedly asked why Europe, where such laws do not exist, remains so green. The philosophical discussion has even extended to the nature of prayer itself, with lecturer Dr Abdularin Saroush distinguishing between praise, supplication, and request.
Warnings Ignored and a Capital at Risk
For those seeking practical explanations, the crisis was tragically predictable. Kaveh Madani, the award-winning former deputy head of the Environmental Protection Agency, recalls being told by senior officials not to use alarmist phrases like 'water bankruptcy'. He was later forced to leave Iran during a crackdown on environmental activists and now heads the Institute for Water, Environment and Health at the United Nations University in Canada.
Madani notes the public's confusion, with questions ranging from cloud theft to cloud fertilisation. Meanwhile, the political discourse has reached a new level of urgency. President Pezeshkian alarmed the world by suggesting that Tehran's population of over 14 million might need to be evacuated to the south by mid-December—a proposal dismissed by other government figures as unfeasible, yet not entirely rejected by water management academics.
While water rationing is already underway through reduced water pressure after midnight, and residents have cut consumption by 10% in seven months, officials say a 20% reduction is needed. The director general of Tehran's provincial waste and water company, Mohsen Ardakani, insists he will not resort to cutoffs, but the spectre of a city running dry looms large. As environmentalist Mohammad Darwish suggests, an environmental movement is growing in Iran, seeking practical solutions and signalling that denial is no longer an option.
