Over the past days, residents in some cities of Iran's southwestern province of Khuzestan held protest gatherings over the shortages of fresh water supplies and polluted running waters.

Crowds in Khorramshahr city, located in the southwest of the oil-rich Khuzestan province, flocked onto the streets on Friday and Saturday in protest against the shortages of drinkable water and the rising salinity of the city's running water.

Angry protesters held up empty water bottles and blamed the government for mismanagement in water supply.

They asked the officials to stop water transfer from the province to other regions and the alleged selling of fresh water to the neighboring states.

They charged the city's governor, Vali-olah Hayati, with incompetence and urged him to leave his office.

Reportedly, demonstrations turned into violent attacks on the banks and public buildings overnight on Saturday, and protesters threw stones and debris at police, who responded with tear gas.

Khorramshahr and Abadan, two major cities in the energy-rich province, have been facing severe fresh water shortages since the beginning of hot season in June.

On Sunday, Iran's interior minister denied reports that several people were killed during Saturday's protests over water scarcity in the southwestern city of Khorramshahr, IRAN daily reported.

"There was not a single death case. There was one case of injury last night that (the protester) was taken to the hospital," Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli said at a press conference on Sunday.

He called for calm and said that security is the core concern of the interior ministry and will do attempts to maintain it.

Besides, local media reported on Sunday that at least 230 people were poisoned after drinking polluted water in Ramhormoz county in Khuzestan province.

Shahyar Mirkheshti, head of the Emergency Medical Incidents Management Center in Khuzestan, said earlier that 65 people had been hospitalized for water poisoning in Ramhormoz county.

Iran is struggling with an escalating water scarcity that has recently reached alarming levels.

Iranian officials have acknowledged that outdated agricultural and irrigation systems and poor water management policies in the past three decades have contributed to nationwide water shortages. Below-average precipitation has exacerbated the situation.

Iranian Energy Minister Reza Ardakanian has denied that Iran has been selling fresh water to neighboring countries.

In the meantime, Ardakanian said the water shortages in some cities in Khuzestan would be resolved by mid-July.

He said "adaptation to water shortage is the government's key strategy today," Financial Tribune reported Sunday.

The minister assured that Iran will be able to prevent disasters resulting from the phenomenon by reversing its wrong policies in time and adopting what he called "correct behavior" in water consumption.

"Although the plan can be expressed in few words, tremendous effort is needed to adapt to water scarcity the way our ancestors did for thousands of years," he was quoted as saying.

According to Financial Tribune, Iran's Forests, Range and Watershed Management Organization has developed an online mapping system featuring drought patterns and hotspots of water crisis.

The real-time maps allow the environmental bodies to monitor climatic developments and ranges and forested areas with lower than average precipitation round the clock and come up with more measured responses to natural disasters, such as wildfire and pest infestation.

In addition, Iran Meteorological Organization's seasonal climate report to the government is to expand to also include the state of natural resources.