The Firouz Bahram Wastewater Treatment Plant at the southwestern tip of Tehran will raise yearly water reclamation capacity by nearly 76%, head of the provincial Water and Wastewater Company said.
"There is only one wastewater treatment facility in the capital that treats 250 million cubic meters of effluent a year. After the second plant is complete output will rise to 442 mcm/y," the Energy Ministry news portal quoted Mohammad Reza Bakhtiari as saying.
The new plant will treat 520,000 cubic meters of sewage a day (192 mcm per annum) and will start work in March.
Built over 60 hectares in Eslamshahr County in southwest Tehran, the plant is being built by the Tehran Regional Water Company and will treat wastewater produced by 2.1 million people in 12 districts in the metropolis that is expanding in all four directions in the past half century. With 12 million people, the capital has 22 municipal districts.
The processed effluent will be used for farming and industries based mainly in Tehran’s southern areas. Referring to the South Wastewater Treatment Plant in the ancient city of Rey, Bakhtiari said the facility covers 3.15 million people and treats 250 million cubic meters of wastewater per annum.
According to long-term development programs, Tehran wastewater network should be completed by 2023.
Given years of dwindling rainfall and rising consumption, conservationists and experts have called for more attention to collecting, treating and recycling water.
Expansion of wastewater networks has become a priority in recent decades, but lack of funding plus rapid urban expansion has slowed the process.
“Expediting the construction of wastewater treatment plants in Tehran is high on the TPWWC agenda.” Bakhtiari said pipe-laying operations have been undertaken in most districts of the rapidly expanding capital to connect households, businesses and industries to the wastewater network.
Sewer Pipes
Laying of sewer pipes is 75% compete, he said and added that of the 9,000km wastewater network designed for the capital, 6,750 km are in place. With 220 wastewater treatment plants across Iran total sewage treatment capacity has reached 11 million cubic meters per day. An additional 32 plants are in different stages of construction and should come on stream by 2022.
Over 7.5 billion cubic meters of usable water is produced and 4.3 bcm is wasted. Less than 25% of wastewater is recycled – a situation that demands focus and responsibility from water managers.
TPWWC plans to build wastewater treatment plants in some districts. “A memorandum of understanding was signed with the Tehran Municipality at the weekend to build the first plant in District 22 in the westernmost part of the city,” Bakhtiari said.
There are plans to build another small-scale plant in District 4 in the eastern area. The treated wastewater of each district will be used to water green spaces in the same region.
Tehran Municipality annually draws 80 mcm from underground water tables exclusively for green spaces. This will gradually be replaced with treated wastewater.
