In her long history of urbanity as the Capital of Iran, Tehran has gone through tremendous challenges to governmentalize her functions as the Capital and to develop to be a modern metropolis. Water sits at the heart of such challenges.
The first documented action to improve the city’s water supply is taken by Mirza Aqasi, the prime Minster of Mohammad Shah, who is assigned to maintain and develop the city’s Qanats (the underground water conduits) and to build a canal to bring Jajroud [River] water, running in the south-east of Tehran to the city. But the outcomes of these solutions did not last so far and Tehran’s water problem handed down to the next generation of citizens and authorities. During the 1st Pahlavi period, while the country experienced remarkable developments in different sector, Tehran’s water problem did not solved. In 1946 the government decided to equip Tehran with piped water but this decision took nine years to be implemented. So Tehran saw piped water only after some less important cities. This was due to contests among contractor, corruption and political issues in Tehran
This essay tries to tell the story of pipelining Tehran concerning its policies, bureaucratic aspects and the urban life. In this way the problem of production and circulation/ contribution of water and its engineering/ technical solutions will be analyzed. Then I will illustrate the odd circumstance of pipelining in Tehran. In the description of the history of pipelining Tehran, I draw a picture of different actors playing their roles in solving Tehran’s big environmental issue which is still disturbing.
I study how technocrats of the time perceive the public investment in the dam construction projects while the domestication of the piped water through water taps in each house, incorporate its costs into the household budget. My study draws on my studies on the social history of the city, the official documents at Energy Ministry Archives, as well as my interviews with old residents of the city.
