Isfahan-Yazd tensions underscore Iran’s deepening water crisis

A month-long protest by farmers in the central Iranian province of Isfahan over their water rights has once again brought the country’s growing water crisis into sharp focus.

Farmers' protests in Isfahan culminated last week in the sabotage of water transfer infrastructures and the cutting of drinking water supplies to the neighboring province of Yazd, highlighting the growing potential for civil unrest and national security risks linked to water scarcity.

Over 95 percent of Iran is currently experiencing prolonged drought. Yet experts argue that the root causes of the crisis go beyond climate, pointing to decades of mismanagement, poor resource planning, and development strategies that ignored environmental realities.

Among the most contentious issues is the concentration of water-intensive industries—such as steel and ceramics—in already water-stressed provinces like Isfahan and Yazd.

Environmental geologist and activist Nikahang Kowsar, who has been warning of a looming water catastrophe since the early 2000s, blames government policies stretching back to the reformist era of President Mohammad Khatami.

Khatami’s supporters, however, argue that plans to transfer water from Isfahan’s Zayandeh Rud to Yazd, Khatami’s hometown, began much earlier and were only completed during his presidency.

The video in the tweet shows the broken pipeline

Experts also cite excessive groundwater extraction for agriculture—pushed in the name of food security—as a major contributor to dropping water tables and land subsidence across much of the country.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has long championed agricultural self-sufficiency. In a March 2021 speech, he called for domestic production of key crops such as wheat, corn, and barley, asserting that the goal was both necessary and achievable. But critics say this policy has encouraged unsustainable water use, especially in arid regions.

Tensions in Isfahan flared last month as local farmers demanded the release of water from behind Zayandeh Rud Dam to the dry river to irrigate their parched lands. The government temporarily eased the standoff on April 5 by releasing water into the river for ten days, prompting celebratory gatherings of citizens along the dry riverbed.

Zayandeh Rud, once the lifeline of Isfahan, has not maintained a permanent flow since 2006. The decline is attributed to drought, upstream agricultural expansion in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province, and the controversial diversion of water to Yazd.

Much warmer months, however, are ahead with temperatures exceeding 40 degrees celsius and both farmers and residents of the city are highly likely to face serious water issues for the irrigation of the crops and normal use, including the running of evaporative air conditioners.

Isfahan’s farmers claim that water diverted to Yazd is being used to support industrial operations, including a major steel plant and greenhouse agriculture such as the cultivation of cucumbers for export. Officials, however, maintain that the pipeline primarily supplies drinking water.

Isfahan Province is also a highly industrial city with a massive steel complex (Mobarakeh Steel Company). Local farmers also grow highly water-intensive crops such as watermelons and rice.

In recent days, angry demonstrators destroyed three pumping stations and damaged the main pipeline to Yazd. Supply of water has been partially restored. Government sources say full restoration of the pipeline could take up to two months.

The resulting emergency triggered a major water crisis in Yazd, forcing the government to announce the closure of government offices and educational facilities on Saturday and Sunday and to begin the distribution of drinking water with tankers to the city’s over half a million population.

The pipeline has long been a flashpoint. It was first sabotaged in 2012, and subsequent protests over water scarcity in Isfahan, Khuzestan, and Bushehr in 2018 and 2021 were met with a heavy government crackdown.

While protests in Isfahan temporarily subsided in Isfahan, the deeper crisis remains unresolved. Isfahan continues to suffer from some of the worst water stress in the country, even as it remains a hub for heavy industry.

Amid growing concerns, some officials have even floated the idea of relocating the capital from Tehran to the water-rich Makran region along the Gulf of Oman—a dramatic proposal that underlines the severity of Iran’s water crisis and its potential to destabilize the country’s future.