this post was submitted on 20 Nov 2025
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Today I Learned

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[–] HobbitFoot@thelemmy.club 30 points 15 hours ago (6 children)

From what I've heard, the current government tapped the groundwater table to push farming. Now, there isn't enough groundwater to accommodate the difference between water demand and river water.

It sucks for Iran.

[–] Vupware@lemmy.zip 29 points 14 hours ago (2 children)

Meanwhile, the rest of the world will completely disregard this cautionary tale and continue to extract groundwater to farm until only saltwater remains.

Then, as billions of people are dying of starvation, thirst, and societal downfall, the elite will finally prioritize desalination R&D and if/when they get something to work they will hail it as a revolutionary step for humanity and completely disregard the fact that this R&D / subsequent proliferation could have been initiated decades ago when the problem was first apparent.

Voila, no more overpopulation crisis, and water, what the civilized world once considered a human right, is now used as a method for exerting control, as it is only ever potable (sans rainwater) after being processed.

[–] BanMe@lemmy.world 22 points 14 hours ago

Parts of the US, like all the major cities in Texas, are actively sinking because we're draining the aquifers that took millennia to fill. It's yet another problem just festering, fascinating to watch as the reality approaches.

[–] kSPvhmTOlwvMd7Y7E@lemmy.world 11 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

Lol oh look, people in power are myopic and prioritize short term benefice over long term thonking; I wonder how often that happens!

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 6 points 14 hours ago (3 children)

people in power are myopic and prioritize short term benefice over long term thonking

I'm not sure "maintaining adequate levels of domestic crop yield" is a short-term benefit. They're stretched for water because they're in a historic drought during a climate catastrophe. This is a no-win situation, exacerbated by the constant threat of military invasion by nuclear superpowers and their rabid fascist local proxies.

The Iranian government can't summon rain from the heavens any easier than their Saudi or Qatari neighbors. Those states just have the benefit of access to western markets and engineering firms for enormous desalination plants. Meanwhile, Iranians' energy infrastructure - necessary to run the pumps and pipelines that irrigate much of the country - have been subject to repeated bombardment by Israeli and US aircraft. Most notably, their civilian nuclear program was crippled by Trump's B-2 bombing run in June. But this is just the tail end of the damage inflicted by the eleven day shootout with Israel.

[–] AA5B@lemmy.world 5 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

And yet other articles were blaming corruption and cronyism for not adequately limiting water used for agriculture

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 4 points 12 hours ago

Western Press do be like that. The Saudi government is experiencing the same water crisis, but somehow remains beyond repute.

[–] SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca 1 points 3 hours ago

The B-2 hit their uranium enrichment, not their one civilian nuclear power plant. Iran buys uranium from Russia already enriched to the ~5% level needed to run that power plant. The Iranian program to enrich uranium above that level is entirely a weapons program, since they have no need for uranium enrichment to run their power plant.

Perhaps instead of investing less resources in a nuclear weapons program and more into projects to benefit their population, Iran wouldn't be in such a mess.

This is a no-win situation, exacerbated by the constant threat of military invasion by nuclear superpowers and their rabid fascist local proxies.

Nobody wants to invade Iran, just the countries that their calls for death to don't want them to have nuclear weapons for obvious reasons. When you chant "Death to America! Death to Israel" constantly while funding a bunch of terrorist groups, plotting assassinations, and enriching uranium for nuclear weapons they probably shouldn't be too surprised about the outcome of those actions.

Most Iranians are good people, but the ruling regime are some of the worst people in the world and prioritize being adversarial assholes over running their country properly. They're losers and I hope they get overthrown by the Iranian people.

[–] kSPvhmTOlwvMd7Y7E@lemmy.world 0 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

Fair enough i was a little harsh; but I hughly doubt their uranium is civilian

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 6 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

I hughly doubt their uranium is civilian

It is at least as civilian as any French nuclear plant. To date, there is no evidence of plutonium enrichment or bomb construction, which is more than can be said of their Israeli neighbors.

[–] Alcoholicorn@mander.xyz 3 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago)

The French have nukes tho, maybe Belgium is a better example.

[–] ptu@sopuli.xyz 6 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago) (1 children)

Also related is the Water conflict in the Middle East and North Africa caused by dams, although Iran seems to not be reliant on waterflows from elsewhere. Maybe low rainfall and bad distribution of resources

[–] titanicx@lemmy.zip 6 points 13 hours ago

Yeah they've talked about how Iran has been in a drought for quite a while. It's like utah, we've been in a drought for 20 plus years at this point we had one good water year last year and for the first time in quite a while came out of our drought status and everybody just kind of forgot and then all of a sudden by the end of the summer most the state was back in a drug in severe drought status again I can't wait for all of our idiotic agriculture here to dry up the water table just like it has over there.

[–] AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world 4 points 14 hours ago

On the bright side, they've got lots of brand new sinkholes. So that's nice.

[–] SpruceBringsteen@lemmy.world 4 points 15 hours ago

Coming soon to a theater near you

[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 3 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

but why isn't Allah making more water?

[–] AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world 3 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

They aren't praying enough, obviously.

[–] veni_vedi_veni@lemmy.world 1 points 10 hours ago

5 times a day? Why isn't it 72 times?