By Joseph Epstein and Dalga Khatinoglu
Iran is facing a water emergency that hydrologists and environmental experts warn may now be irreversible. Major reservoirs are depleted, groundwater reserves are collapsing, and senior officials are openly warning of citizens rationing water and even evacuating the capital due to water shortages. While the crisis is often attributed to drought or climate change, experts stress that it is overwhelmingly man-made—the cumulative result of decades of over-extraction, mismanagement, and failure to modernize water governance.
Paradoxically, many of the most effective technical solutions to Iran’s water crisis have already been developed by its regional adversary, Israel. Through innovations in drip irrigation, wastewater recycling, desalination, and integrated water management, Israel has achieved water security under harsher natural constraints than Iran faces today. This article argues that Iran’s crisis is no longer a problem of awareness or technology, but of political, financial, and institutional barriers—and that proven Israeli approaches, if accessed indirectly, could still mitigate the most destabilizing consequences of a crisis experts say can no longer be fully reversed.
The geopolitical paradox
The supreme irony is that the technological solutions most appropriate to Iran’s water crisis have been developed and proven by Israel—a country with which Iran has no diplomatic relations and maintains an adversarial posture. Direct technology transfer remains impossible under current political conditions.
However, indirect pathways exist. International water organizations, multilateral development banks, and specialized United Nations agencies could potentially serve as intermediaries for technology transfer and capacity building.
Some Israeli water technologies have become so widely adopted that they’re available through non-Israeli suppliers that manufacture under license or have developed parallel capabilities. The fundamental principles—precision irrigation, advanced wastewater treatment, efficient desalination, smart water management—can be implemented regardless of technology source.
The scope of Iran’s water crisis
Official statistics from the Iranian government show that the average storage level of Iran’s dams stands at only 33 percent, and four out of the five main dams supplying water to Tehran have dried up. The remaining dam is in a highly fragile state, holding only enough water for a few weeks of consumption by the capital.
President Masoud Pezeshkian recently highlighted the severity of the situation, noting that rainfall has been “zero” during the current water year that began two months ago. He warned, “If it does not rain in Tehran within a month, we will have to ration water; if it still doesn’t rain, we will have to evacuate Tehran.”
Conditions in several other provinces are significantly worse than in the capital.
According to Iran’s Ministry of Energy, Iran consumes around 100 billion cubic meters (bcm) of water annually, 90 percent of which is used in agriculture. This exceptional level of agricultural water use is primarily due to widespread reliance on traditional irrigation methods, especially flood irrigation.
More importantly, 60 percent of the country’s total water consumption comes from groundwater aquifers, which are being depleted at an alarming rate. Iran adds 5 bcm annually to its groundwater deficit, leading to widespread land subsidence in major urban areas, particularly Tehran and Isfahan.
Ali Beitollahi, head of the Seismology and Risk Department at the Road, Housing, and Urban Development Research Center, reports that “eighteen provinces are experiencing land subsidence rates exceeding ten centimeters per year. In central Tehran, the rate of subsidence over the past two years has tripled compared with the previous two-year period. Subsidence zones in south and southwest Tehran have expanded by about 40 percent in recent years.”
This is the state of Iran’s capital city—which would ideally be the center of water management. Yet 60 percent of Tehran’s water comes from underground sources. More than half of the city’s 2.5 bcm annual water consumption is used in agriculture, and 30 percent of drinking water is lost through the aging, deteriorating distribution network.
Another major dimension of the crisis is the rapid drying of Iran’s wetlands and lakes. Mohammad-Reza Rezaei-Kouchi, head of the Parliament’s Construction Commission, reports that 66 percent of Iran’s major wetlands have dried up.
Israel’s water revolution: A comparative model
Israel faces many of the same climatic challenges as Iran—limited rainfall, high evaporation rates, and growing demand. Understanding Israel’s approach illuminates the specific technological and policy gaps in Iran’s water system.
Israel pioneered drip irrigation technology in the 1960s, and today approximately 75 percent of Israeli agricultural land uses drip or micro-irrigation systems. These methods deliver water directly to plant roots with precision, reducing water consumption by 30 to 70 percent compared to flood irrigation while often increasing crop yields.
Tehran’s agricultural water waste leads the region. Iranian agriculture consumes around 90 bcm of water, yet neighboring Turkey—with 40 percent less water consumption—produces 30 percent more agricultural output. Iran receives less rainfall than Turkey, but 70 percent of Iran’s rainfall evaporates due to insufficient investment in rainwater harvesting and storage, while Turkey loses about 50 percent.
Taking these numbers into consideration, if Iran adopted Israeli-style drip irrigation across even 50 percent of its agricultural land, water savings could reach 20 to 30 bcm annually—four to six times the country’s current groundwater deficit.
Israel treats and reuses approximately 90 percent of its wastewater for agriculture—the highest rate globally. This contrasts sharply with Iran’s performance.
Iran ranks 103rd out of 180 countries globally in urban wastewater collection and treatment—the worst in its region. Only 50 percent of Iranian households are connected to sewer systems, and only 20 percent of collected wastewater is treated and reused for agriculture or industry.
If Iran had developed wastewater infrastructure comparable to Israel’s, a significant portion of the country’s 8 bcm per year of drinking water consumption could be recycled for non-potable uses. Instead, untreated wastewater is frequently discharged into wells or surrounding areas, contaminating groundwater aquifers.
Israeli wastewater treatment technology, including advanced biological and membrane processes, has been successfully exported to water-scarce regions worldwide. The country’s integrated approach combines centralized treatment plants with sophisticated distribution networks that deliver reclaimed water directly to agricultural users.
Israel now produces approximately 85 percent of its domestic water supply through desalination, operating five major plants along the Mediterranean coast. The country’s reverse osmosis desalination technology has become among the most energy-efficient globally, with costs declining to approximately forty-one cents per cubic meter.
The original article was published on Atlantic Council