Water plays an essential part in the life of our cities. It is required to provide our basic needs for drinking water and sanitation, for industry and commerce and plays an important part in our health and wellbeing.
The Islamic Republic of Iran is a Middle East North Africa (MENA) country and has a population of over 80 million. The country has abundant mineral wealth including petroleum, natural gas, coal and metals but water is a scarce commodity due to location in an arid zone which only receives around 200mm of rain a year – about a third of the global average – with 75% of that falling on just 25% of its surface area. Iran is currently in the grip of a major water shortage and sees good water management as a means to ensure economic growth.
This report summarises a workshop held with UK and Iranian experts, sponsored by the British Council, to explore the water management challenges faced by Iran. The water challenges were explored using Arup’s Drivers of Change cards which are a way to get people thinking about how various issues could affect particular projects, businesses or working environments, by examining change across five lenses or domains of change - social, technological, economic, environmental and political - together known as a the STEEP framework. The key priorities for water management included restructuring water governance and regulation; the need to invest in innovation; upskilling and the need to foster community engagement.