Iran is currently the most wasteful country in consuming water reserves, which is a big threat to the environment, the head of Iran Environment Protection Organization Masoumeh Ebtekar was quoted as saying by Tehran Times daily on Tuesday.
Natural resources have been used excessively over the past years and if water consumption by households and agricultural sector continues in this way the nature and resources will be destroyed, Ebtekar said.
Over 50 percent of Iran's water demand is supplied by underground resources and some four billion cubic meters of underground water is used annually.
Underground water resources of the country have fallen nearly to half over the past 10 years, a decrease from 92 billion cubic meters to 48 billion cubic meters, the official of Iranian Energy Ministry Hedayat Fahmi said.
Large portion of water resources is used in a wasteful manner in the agricultural sector, Ebtekar said on Monday, adding that " We should first know about our water resources and then make plans for consumption so that it would not lead to environmental disasters."
Iran's Lake Urmia, the third largest salt water lake on the earth, has dried up greatly due to the mismanagement of water resources and lack of planning, Ebtekar said. Some 70 percent of water surface of Lake Urmia in northwestern Iran has dried up.
Iran is suffering droughts as well as a dry climate. Around two thirds of Iran's area is rapidly changing into desert, the Iranian Forests, Range and Watershed Management Organization reported in 2013.