As groundwater resources in the southern Bushehr Province are drying up, desalination capacity will double in the dry region to reach 70,000 cubic meters per day by March 2022, the energy minister said.
“Three desalination units with a capacity of processing 35,000 cubic meters of saline water per day are active and one more will become operational by the yearend,” Ali Akbar Mehrabian was also quoted as saying by IRNA.
Saline water processing capacity has increased by 25,000 cm/d (from 10,000 cm/d in 2017 to 35,000 cm/d at present) in the region in the last three years.
However, Mehrabian stressed that more such units are needed to help people in rural areas quench their thirst.
“The agricultural, industrial and household sectors are supplied with at least 800 million cubic meters of water per annum, of which 700 mcm are used for farming,” he said.
Water is supplied from surface, groundwater and desalination sources. The main agricultural products in the province include wheat, barley, onions, sesame, tomatoes, eggplants, lemons and dates.
Known as an industrial region, Bushehr is home to major refineries and power plants. The giant South Pars Gas Field is located in the province’s Asalouyeh County.
Iran’s sole nuclear power plant is also located in this province. The water needed for the nuclear facility is supplied from the Persian Gulf, which is not included in data provided by the provincial water company.
Rusty Pipes
Bushehr is located along the Persian Gulf coastline. However, due to lack of desalination plants, 65% of Bushehr’s water are supplied by neighboring provinces, such as Kohgilouyeh-Boyerahmad, through rusty pipes laid 25 years ago.
“Around 40% of water are wasted due to the pipeline erosion,” Abdol-Latif Abbasinejad, the deputy for conservation affairs at the Bushehr Regional Water Company, said.
“Some regions in the province get less than 50 mm of rainfall per year. Moreover, groundwater overdraft, more than 80% of which happen in the agricultural sector, adds to the steep decline in groundwater levels,” he added.
Noting that the province’s annual water deficit is about 30 million cubic meters, he said the worsening water crisis compounded by the decline in groundwater resources is a threat and has led to land subsidence.
“Five plains in Bushehr shrink by more than a meter every year,” he warned.
Located in southwestern Iran, the arid province is one of the most water-stressed regions. The conditions in the province are so bad that water authorities have to dispatch water tankers to several areas (especially in summer).
The commonly used conventional water resources such as rainwater or river runoff are not adequate to meet growing demand. One effective way to tackle water paucity is by building desalination plants, which can also run with the help of nuclear reactors.
Cost-Effective Technology
According to Misaq Molaei, an energy analyst, using nuclear reactors to operate seawater desalination plants can be cost-effective in areas straddling the southern coasts of Iran, as they meet most of their potable water demand from nearby provinces.
The cost of treating seawater using fossil fuels is about 100 cents for each cubic meter of water, while it stands at around 30 cents in nuclear desalination plants, Molaei said.
He added that desalination units of Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant in the southern province have the capacity to desalinate 15,000 cubic meters of saline water per day.
The Bushehr plant is situated 17 km southeast of the city of Bushehr.
Iran has signed a $10 billion deal with Russia to build two new nuclear power plants in Bushehr.
“The desalination capacity, which meets 20% of Bushehr city’s water demand, can be boosted with the help of nuclear reactors,” he said.
“In addition to the high cost of processing seawater by fossil-fueled desalination plants, it damages the environment more than the nuclear plants, the output of which is more desirable both in terms of quality and quantity.”
Small- and medium-sized nuclear reactors are suitable for desalination, often with cogeneration of electricity using low-pressure steam from the turbine and hot seawater fed from the cooling system.
Several countries have started to use nuclear desalination plants, including India, Japan and Kazakhstan. The latter operated a 750-MW facility for over a quarter century, generating not only desalinated water, but processing heat and electricity as well.
Nuclear energy-powered water desalination is an effective and feasible technology.
More recently, Argentina, China and South Korea have developed small nuclear reactor designs to generate both electricity and freshwater.
Seventy plus desalination plants that process 350,000 cubic meters of saline water per day are operational across Iran.
Of the 71 plants, 54 are in the coastal areas of the south, namely Hormozgan, Bushehr and Sistan-Baluchestan provinces. The rest are in northern regions, including Gilan, Mazandaran and Golestan.
