IRAN’S populous cities of Tehran and Mashhad are approaching Day Zero. The term refers to a moment when a city or an area runs dry and is unable to supply water to its residents. The widening water demand and supply gap in large cities makes the term more relevant during protracted droughts and climatic vagaries.

The sixth consecutive year of drought has brought the water supply system in several Iranian cities to the brink. The government is scrambling to avert a doomsday scenario by enforcing stringent water rationing in Tehran and Mashhad with populations of 10 million and 3.5m respectively. President Masoud Pezeshkian has warned of possible evacuation of the capital if it doesn’t receive rain in the coming weeks. Evacuating a city the size of Tehran is no less complicated than fetching water from outside it. The crisis is not confined to Tehran. Other places including Khorasan, Khuzestan, Isfahan, Fars, Yazd and Sistan-Baluchestan are also experiencing sev­ere water stress. The country’s dams are on the verge of touching dead level.

A combination of political, administrative and climatic factors has triggered this disturbing situation. Several years of drought took a complicated turn this year when Tehran received 80 per cent........

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