TEHRAN – An official at the Department of Environment said on Sunday that since May 2015, the source of Sefid Rud (Sefid River) has dried up, leading to an unprecedented water crisis in the region, IRNA news agency reported.

The Sefid Rud is a river approximately 670 kilometers long, rising in northwestern Iran and flowing generally northeast to meet the Caspian Sea at Rasht. The river is Iran's second longest river after the Karun.
Mohammad Dervish, speaking at a convention on water crisis and civil society responsibilities, emphasized on the gravity of water crisis in the region and said deliberate ecological degradation will definitely result in more disastrous outcome.
Pointing to the dry lands flood overflow during summer, Dervish named jungle destruction and livestock overgrazing as the two major factors that contribute to shortage of water supplies.
Water resource managers and environmental activists should treat natural resources as their beloved family members, he concluded.
The source of a river is the original point from which the river flows.