On January 11, 2016, a seminar entitled “Water Myths” was held at Sharif University of Technology, presented by Dr. Kaveh Madani. The seminar examined misconceptions that, in Madani's view, had become embedded in Iran's water-resource management system and in public discussion. His central argument was that misleading assumptions can prevent experts, decision-makers, and citizens from developing comprehensive, scientific, and practical solutions. Attempting to solve water problems without understanding their roots, he argued, can itself produce serious consequences for Iran and its environment. [source]
Misusing words such as “crisis” [source]
The first misconception concerned routine use of the expression “water crisis” rather than “water problem.” Madani argued that a crisis is normally understood as an acute, temporary condition, whereas Iranians had already been told for roughly thirteen years that the country was in a water crisis. Repeatedly using emergency language, he said, can eventually reduce rather than increase public sensitivity. A term such as “crisis” should be sufficiently exceptional to mobilize society and specialists. He contrasted this with California's then-severe multi-year drought, where public terminology often emphasized drought and water shortage rather than permanently framing the condition as a crisis. [source]
Misunderstanding the roots of the problem
If we continually believe ourselves to be in an emergency, Madani argued, urgency encourages action before enough time has been spent identifying causes. We may then begin “solving” a problem while merely assuming that we understand its roots. He compared this to taking a patient into surgery without knowing the underlying illness. Before prescribing solutions, stakeholders need a common language and a more precise understanding of causes.
Assuming water problems can be solved only within the water sector
Another common claim is that Iran's difficulties result simply from poor water-resource management. Madani argued that water systems cannot be separated from social systems or from energy, food, employment, and economic policy. In many cases both the causes and potential solutions lie partly outside conventional water management. Treating the water sector in isolation can therefore fail to solve existing problems and can create new ones.
Population growth and spatial planning
Madani then discussed competing views on population. One perspective considers population growth necessary for legitimate demographic reasons; another warns that additional population can intensify existing pressures. For him, a crucial question was not simply population size but where people live.
Iran's population and opportunities are heavily concentrated in a small number of large metropolitan areas. Many rural residents migrate toward cities and service-sector jobs, sometimes ending in informal settlements. Madani argued that better spatial distribution, employment creation, and stronger small and medium-sized cities could support industrial and economic development. In his formulation, population-growth policies without effective land-use and spatial planning could be highly damaging.
“Agriculture must be shut down to solve the water problem”
Madani rejected the idea that Iranian agriculture could simply be eliminated. Around 30 percent of the country's population, according to the figures cited in the seminar, depended on agriculture in some way. Instead, agriculture could gradually become smaller as employment expanded in industry and services, while farmers could be empowered to increase productivity and reduce cultivated area.
He also warned against simplistic international comparisons. Some argued that Iran should expand rain-fed agriculture because globally about 60 percent of agriculture was rain-fed and 40 percent irrigated, whereas figures cited for Iran were roughly 11 and 89 percent. But Iran's average precipitation differs greatly from the global average, so merely copying global percentages would be misleading. The agricultural sector instead needed viable markets, strong producer organizations, and policies developed with rather than simply imposed upon farmers.
Food security or water security?
Madani questioned the framing of food security and water security as competing objectives. Both are components of broader human security, alongside energy and economic security. Optimizing each independently does not necessarily produce overall security; the systems must interact and trade-offs must be considered together.
What is the actual objective?
For many proposed interventions, Madani argued, decision-makers should first ask why: what exactly is the objective? Once a shared objective is established, costs, strategies, and expected outcomes can be evaluated more coherently.
“Iran's situation is worse than every other Middle Eastern country”
Madani challenged another sweeping comparison. In his framing, Iran had created some problems earlier than neighbouring countries and had consequently begun recognizing them earlier. He also cited per-capita water availability figures that placed Iran second to Lebanon in the Middle Eastern comparison he was discussing. The point was not that Iran lacked serious problems, but that slogans about being uniquely doomed could obscure more useful diagnosis.
“Dams caused all the problems, therefore dams are bad”
Iran has a strong seasonal and geographical mismatch between rainfall and demand. The seminar states that about 75 percent of precipitation occurs when demand is relatively low, while roughly 75 percent of precipitation falls over only 25 percent of the country's area. Madani therefore argued that storage infrastructure can be necessary. The important questions are how many dams are built, where, at what capacity, for what purpose, and with what design.
His distinction was memorable: dams are not inherently bad; an obsession with dam building is. The same principle applies to water transfers, desalination, and wells. These technologies are tools whose inappropriate use can be destructive.
Madani also criticized a predominantly structural or engineering-centred mentality among both managers and society. Environmental issues, he argued, had not become sufficiently strong public concerns, so structural interventions often became the default response. Too often policy merely moved the visible problem from one place to another.
Creating public panic
Repeated frightening statements from officials do not necessarily solve anything. Madani argued that they can instead create distrust and eventually indifference. If Tehran residents are told year after year that the city's water will be cut off and the prediction repeatedly fails to materialize, later warnings lose credibility.
Likewise, dramatic claims about decades-long drought, imminent “water wars,” or precise percentages attributing problems to climate change can exceed what can actually be predicted. His point was that public statements should reflect uncertainty rather than use certainty merely to attract attention.
“Drought is the new normal, so nothing can be done”
Madani regarded fatalism as particularly dangerous. He characterized Iran's predicament not simply as physical water scarcity but as a form of socioeconomic drought or water bankruptcy: society wants to consume more water than is sustainably available under current patterns. In his framing, Iran possesses water but does not use it appropriately; the challenge is therefore not identical to absolute physical water poverty.
“NASA says…”
He also criticized unreliable claims attributed to NASA, such as reports that the agency had predicted a fifty-year drought. Publication of a study does not mean “NASA said” whatever social-media summaries claim it said. Madani urged audiences to identify the actual scientific paper, authors, and publication. He remarked that if NASA could straightforwardly predict drought decades in advance, California would have benefited from such predictive certainty.
Mismanagement—and the thirst for development
Finally, Madani argued that the phrase “water mismanagement” itself requires analysis: mismanagement by whom, of what, and through which mechanisms? Not every problem is caused by mismanagement, and many causes lie outside the water sector.
Alongside management failures, he emphasized what he called a persistent “thirst for development.” The pressure for rapid development is not confined to a single period of Iranian history. More broadly, governments around the world often change behaviour only after disasters expose weaknesses. The Netherlands' experience with floods and Japan's experience with earthquakes were offered as examples of disasters stimulating institutional learning and improved management.
Madani concluded that citizens should not simply place responsibility on government. Society also bears responsibility and can influence outcomes. The more deeply complex environmental problems are examined, the more clearly their uncertainties, dynamics, and interactions become. Even extensive study cannot eliminate all uncertainty because human knowledge of these systems remains limited.
Source identified by the original article: Lake Urmia Restoration Program. [source]
The original article described Kaveh Madani as a water-resources and environmental-management specialist with a doctorate from the University of California, Davis, recipient of a 2015 young earth-scientist award, and then a professor of environmental management at Imperial College London.