July 11, 2014
Tehran and 24 of the country’s 31 provinces got hit by a dust storm—not a sand storm—last Wednesday and Thursday.
Professor Parviz Kardavani told the Iran Daily that sand storms involved big particles and do not travel far because of the weight of the sand. Dust storms involve small particles and can travel thousands of miles.
He said Tehran has been hit by an increasing number of dust storms in the last decade because the intense dam construction along the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, especially in Turkey, have reduced the supply of water to the vast marshes of southern Iraq, causing them to dry out and turn to dust.
He did not mention Iranian dam building on the Karun River, which has also reduced the water flow to the marshlands.
The Air Pollution Emergency Committee for Tehran said last week’s dust storm was the worst ever with dust hanging in the air for two full days.
It blamed the dust on mining activities in the Tehran area.
But Kardavani said the mines have been operating around Tehran for decades and are contributing only a small part to the particulate matter in Tehran’s air. He said no industry could have been behind the huge dust storm of last Wednesday and Thursday.
