IRNA reports that extensive land subsidence due to excessive withdrawal of the province’s groundwater reserves in South Khorasan has…

IRNA, with reference to widespread land subsidence caused by excessive extraction of the groundwater reserves in South Khorasan province, reports that this region has entered “water bankruptcy.”

The head of the South Khorasan meteorological office says that more than 73% of the province’s area is affected by “severe drought.” The managing director of the province’s Regional Water Company has also said that they have reached the “ultra-crisis or blue red line” stage, and that annually, water is withdrawn from aquifers at an amount equal to 130% of the water entering them.

According to this report, the cumulative deficit of South Khorasan’s groundwater resources over the past 30 years has reached four billion and 200 million cubic meters.

IRNA writes that at present, on average, more than 400 villages in this province with a population of 45,000 people are supplied with water via water tankers.