Iran halts power generation at key dam due to drought

Iran halts power generation at key dam due to drought
Iranian authorities on Saturday halted power generation at one of the country's largest dams due to a significant drop in the reservoir's water level, state media reported, according to AFP.

"Due to the drop in the water level in the Karkheh dam reservoir, its power plant units have been removed from the production cycle," said Amir Mahmoudi, head of the dam and its power plant, according to the state news agency IRNA.

He added that water was subsequently released from the dam's lower valves to meet the needs of people living downstream.

He said the reservoir behind the dam currently holds about one billion cubic meters of water, adding that "the current water level is 180 meters, which is 40 meters below the natural operating level" for power generation.

The Karkheh Dam is one of the largest earth-fill dams in the world and the largest in Iran and the Middle East, according to IRNA. Built on the Karkheh River, it is located 22 kilometers northwest of the city of Andimeshk in the southwestern province of Khuzestan.

This comes at a time when the country is facing one of the harshest droughts since records began six decades ago. Iranian media have reported in recent weeks that rainfall has decreased by about ninety percent this year, compared to the long-term average.

Water levels in reservoirs supplying many provinces have fallen to record lows, and residents have been praying for rain in various cities in recent weeks.

Iranian authorities have also launched cloud seeding operations to induce rainfall and resorted to periodic water supply cuts to manage consumption.

Iran, a largely arid country, has suffered from chronic droughts and heatwaves for years, which are expected to worsen with climate change.