Totalitarianism and Corruption Have Destroyed Iran’s Water Supply

Yesterday, rain finally came to some areas of western Iran, causing floods, after months of severe draught. But the rain, even if it continues, and even if it spreads to the rest of the country, would not be enough to fix the severe shortages of water. Government officials have already spoken of rationing water and even moving the capital from Tehran to some less draught-stricken location. As Guy Goldstein and Rebecca Bar-Sef explain, Iran has entered a state known to specialists as water bankruptcy, in which underground reservoirs have been drained and the country is literally sinking into the ground: