85% Water Use in Agriculture: Iran’s Water Crisis and Land Subsidence

Iran has 400 billion cubic meters of precipitation annually, of which 300 billion cubic meters evaporate and 100 billion cubic meters are runoff or enter aquifers. Of this amount, unfortunately, more than 85 percent of this water, which is referred to as renewable water, is used for agriculture.

This amount is much higher than the global average and indicates the strong dependence of the economy and people’s livelihoods on water-intensive agriculture. In international standards, up to 40% of renewable water use is acceptable. Therefore, for these reasons, our country is among the most wasteful countries.