The second phase of a wastewater development plan has become operational in the capital city Sari, Mazandaran Province, head of the provincial Water and Wastewater Company said.
“Sewage processing capacity in Sari [in the not too distant past] was 100,000 cubic meters per day and has increased by 30%,” Majid Abdollahi was quoted as saying by IRNA.
The $30 million project will recycle 30,000 cubic meters of wastewater per day and was completed in five years by the National Water and Wastewater Engineering Company of Iran (Abfa), he Abdollahi said.
An estimated 130 million cubic meters of wastewater is produced by households in the northern tourist region of which less than 20 mcm is treated and the rest flows into the Caspian Sea or seeps into the ground.
“Most provinces recycle 50% of the sewage but Mazandaran is far behind due to lack of infrastructure.”
Annual water consumption in the household sector in the province is about 150 mcm producing 130 mcm of effluent, he said.
Not reclaiming this vast volume is an economic and environmental loss with adverse effects on the water tables.
“Close to 90% of water demand in the region is met from underground resources and failing to efficiently treat wastewater will contaminate the underground reserves and put 3.2 million people at risk,” the water official was quoted as saying.
Sewage collection network in the province extends over 1,000 kilometers but less than 300,000 households in cities like Sari, Babol, Noshahr and Chalus are connected.
90% of water demand in the major tourist area is met with from underground resources and failing to efficiently treat wastewater will contaminate underground reserves and put 3.2 million people at risk
The Islamic Development Bank, the multilateral development finance institution focused on Islamic finance located in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, has agreed to lend $320 million for a project to develop wastewater networks in the province visited by millions of tourists every year.
“When the project is implemented, Qaemshahr, Amol, Mahmoudabad and Ramsar will have urban sewage systems.” The loan is set to be allocated by September. According to Abdollahi, 500,000 people, or 25% of the province’s urban population, will benefit from the project.
Mazandaran Province is home to 470,000 hectares of agronomical and horticultural farms producing 7 million tons of agricultural products a year. Major products are rice, kiwi, citrus fruits, flowers, plants, chicken, dairy and fish.
Water-Intensive Crops
Amid low precipitation and water shortages, the government is planning to place restrictions on the cultivation of water-intensive crops in areas where underground water resources are at alarmingly low levels, IRNA reported.
Energy Minister Reza Ardakanian says water shortages will negatively impact the spring cultivation of crops. “In Mazandaran Province farmers can for now use low-depth wells to deal with the situation.”
Delavar Heydarpour, the head of Mazandaran Agricultural Jihad Organization, said on Wednesday that there are serious concerns regarding problems farmers are likely to face during the rice planting season between April and June.
He said water reserves behind the province’s dams have decreased by an average 40% since the beginning of the current water year (Sept. 2020) compared with the similar period in 2019.
Although water scarcity is one of the biggest economic and environmental challenges facing Iran, inefficient management of the valuable resource is largely blamed for the crisis.
