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After ruining a treasured water resource, Iran is drying up

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Re: After ruining a treasured water resource, Iran is drying up

#101

Post by Reubachi »

Waterluvian wrote: post #42
dkga wrote: post #5

I grew up in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, a region full of natural resources and, thankfully, aquifers and natural water reservoirs. However, centuries of extraction mismanagement and, more recently, over exploration of mineral resources puts these water resources into jeopardy. (Other problems include mining in open pits and with sludge dams that led to two of the worse environmental disasters in the world i…

Wow. That’s a hydrological feature I’ve never come across in my studies. Thanks for sharing. Short tangent: I want to stop and admire that you shared an article in Portuguese and in seconds I could read it with Safari’s translation feature. It even translated labels on the images, and got the hydrologic cycle figure right! (However, I think “Rio de 28 Old Women” is probably an error.) This makes me feel connected wit…

At the risk of making a comment that goes against HN comment guidelines;

"Rio de 28 Old Women" sounds like a theme park ride.

Re: After ruining a treasured water resource, Iran is drying up

#102

Post by ChrisMarshallNY »

nayroclade wrote: post #67
ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I suggest you read the article I wasn't talking about what they were discussing (desalination for farming). I was talking about moving an entire city, as opposed to getting enough water to deal with just that city. I suggest you read this: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html#comments

Actually it says the desalinated water is too expensive even for farming, it’s only used for heavy industries, so it’s certainly not a solution for the domestic supply of 9 million people. And don’t confuse moving the capital city with actually relocating Tehran. Tehran’s not going anywhere. What they’re proposing is building a new capital city, but it’ll be the rich and the political and religious elite who move the…

Good answer. Makes sense.

I’m convinced my conjecture was wrong.

No issue.

But the number 100 billion was mentioned as the cost of moving the capital.

Re: After ruining a treasured water resource, Iran is drying up

#103

Post by jack_riminton »

Havoc wrote: post #78
jack_riminton wrote: post #38

The 2nd and 3rd order effects of any wars e.g with Afghanistan might be causing some late nights in Langley

Don't think the late nights in Langley matter when the head honcho makes incoherent decisions

Oh they'll be thinking way beyond his reign!

Re: After ruining a treasured water resource, Iran is drying up

#104

Post by Waterluvian »

Reubachi wrote: post #101
Waterluvian wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow. That’s a hydrological feature I’ve never come across in my studies. Thanks for sharing. Short tangent: I want to stop and admire that you shared an article in Portuguese and in seconds I could read it with Safari’s translation feature. It even translated labels on the images, and got the hydrologic cycle figure right! (However, I think “Rio de 28 Old Women” is probably an error.) This makes me feel connected wit…

At the risk of making a comment that goes against HN comment guidelines; "Rio de 28 Old Women" sounds like a theme park ride.

Ugh I’m not a fan of that ride. It really pinches my cheeks.

Re: After ruining a treasured water resource, Iran is drying up

#105

Post by bonzini »

vintermann wrote: post #96
Someone wrote: post #12

> However, unpublished national observations revealed groundwater depletion in some plains from as early as the 1950s. This coincided with the gradual replacement of Persian qanats, which were sustainable groundwater extraction systems and UNESCO World Cultural Heritage sites9, with (semi)deep wells. https://www.macrotrends.net/global-metrics/countries/irn/ira... says Iran’s population today is over five times that o…

And the reason qanats weren't sufficient anymore, was that they pursued a policy of food independence, due to sanctions/a desire for political autonomy. I'm not so sure they could have done much different.

Sanctions in the 1950s?

Re: After ruining a treasured water resource, Iran is drying up

#106

Post by dredmorbius »

baxtr wrote: post #73

Maybe it’s selection bias but: The saddest thing about Iran I’ve noticed is the stark contrast between the current state of the country and the intelligence of the people I’ve met from this country.

This is often the case.

Consider too the selection bias in those you've met from Iran, presumably outside that country. Both on ideological and socioeconomic / aptitude bases.

I'd first encountered a similar observation in the 1970s or 1980s, then directed largely at those from Soviet Bloc countries encountered in the West. Typically these were academics, engineers, or similarly highly-skilled professionals, who presumably found greener pastures outside their homeland. Presuming that these were necessarily representative of the larger population ignores sampling dynamics.

Re: After ruining a treasured water resource, Iran is drying up

#107

Post by vintermann »

deadbabe wrote: post #81
renegade-otter wrote: post #9

I am not saying there is no crisis coming, but I recall reading that Tehran will be out of water in two weeks, two months ago. What's up with that?

Ever heard of clickbait? It is unlikely Tehran will just evacuate all at once. They will do something drastic when the problem can no longer be ignored. And random events like rain will delay the inevitable for a while longer. Perhaps this is how climate change will end up as well.

It IS climate change, to a large part. And yes, I think you're right it's how climate change will show up for us as well.

There will always be lot of other factors - the first time we're going to really collectively notice sea level rise is on the high tide during a storm surge. The rest of the time, the change will be within the range of variation that we're used to dealing with.

Re: After ruining a treasured water resource, Iran is drying up

#108

Post by dartharva »

baxtr wrote: post #73

Maybe it’s selection bias but: The saddest thing about Iran I’ve noticed is the stark contrast between the current state of the country and the intelligence of the people I’ve met from this country.

This can apply to almost every country on earth.

Re: After ruining a treasured water resource, Iran is drying up

#109

Post by stefs »

matusp wrote: post #86
alistairSH wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, they do. For example, only 60% of Equinix’s DCs use closed loop, non-evaporative cooling systems… https://www.cdotrends.com/story/4492/balancing-energy-and-wa...

Does cooling destroy H20 molecules somehow?

of course not, but as far as i understand there are a few factors that are relevant for local water supplies:

- evaporation from cooling. the water will come down as rain again, but not necessarily in the same region

- when disposing the water into the sewers, the water might get "lost" into the oceans, where it's not available as drinking water

- when disposing water used for cooling into the rivers it was taken from, there might be environmental issues with water temperature. i know that this is an issue with rivers in europe where the industry is allowed to measure and report their adherence to the laws regarding the maximum allowed water temperatures themselves and, to no ones surprise, the rivers are too warm.

so water is not destroyed, but it can be made unusable or unavailable for the locally intended purpose.

Re: After ruining a treasured water resource, Iran is drying up

#110

Post by vintermann »

breppp wrote: post #100
timcobb wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What simple solution are you referring to? Depopulating Tehran?

As far I remember a large reason for the water crisis is subsidizing water for agriculture which does not fit the local climate This is based on some ideological pillar of being autarkic, as the Islamic Republic was generally built upon the fear of outside influence sounds like if 90% of their water goes to agriculture, mostly export, and their country is cash strapped due to their habit of kidnappings, then maybe th…

> This is based on some ideological pillar of being autarkic, as the Islamic Republic was generally built upon the fear of outside influence

You say that if it was some cultural oddity, and not a completely understandable reaction and exactly the same any state with "western culture" would have done in the same situation.

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