The first phase of a water pipeline to supply people of Chabahar County in Sistan-Baluchestan Province with drinking water from a new desalination plant has registered 43% progress, managing director of the provincial water and wastewater company said.
“With the completion of the project, piped water will be provided for 122,000 people in Chabahar,” the Energy Ministry’s news portal Paven also quoted Alireza Qasemi as saying.
“The first phase will supply 25,000 cubic meters per day of water via 22 kilometers of pipelines, of which 8 kilometers have been laid so far,” he added.
The official noted that when the project becomes fully operational, 50,000 cubic meters per day of seawater will be desalinated to meet the water needs of Chabahar, Kanarak and a number of coastal villages.
Sistan-Baluchestan is the second largest province of Iran, bordering Afghanistan and Pakistan. The region has been struggling with water crises for more than two decades.
In recent years, groundwater has been extracted from aquifers faster than the recharge rate because of extremely low rainfall (105 mm a year on average), rapid urban development and high population growth.
As the water crisis worsens and groundwater resources dry up, using unconventional water resources, namely saline water, has become inevitable.
Chabahar County has a population of about 228,000 people, of which more than 122,000 live in Chabahar City. Currently, out of 276 villages in the county, 204 receive piped water and 72 get drinking water via tankers.
Almost half the population of the underdeveloped region live in rural areas and 250,000 people do not have access to piped water.
According to the provincial authorities, if water infrastructure does not improve drought, joblessness and the deteriorating economic conditions will force half a million people to migrate in search of work and a decent livelihood.
Need for More Desalination
Despite the fact that 76 plants are functioning in different parts of Iran, desalinated water comprises a meager 0.1% of the total annual water consumption while in some neighboring countries like Saudi Arabia, it is 70%.
Iran's annual water consumption is about 100 billion cubic meters, of which less than 100 million cubic meters are produced by desalination plants in coastal regions, namely Khuzestan, Sistan-Baluchestan, Hormozgan and Bushehr.
Approximately 142 million cubic meters of seawater are desalinated daily throughout the globe. However, Iran's share is as little as 407,000 cubic meters per day.
According to experts, dependence on rainwater and river runoff in drought-stricken regions can no longer meet mounting demand. That’s why unconventional water resources, such as reclaimed and desalinated water, have emerged as effective solutions for the sustainable and long-term management of drinking water in parched regions like Hormozgan and Bushehr.
Unconventional water resources are generated through desalination for irrigation.
The significance of water reuse, as a solution to Iran’s worsening water problems, has increased in recent years.
Many regions, namely Isfahan, Hormozgan and Semnan, have already started reusing water either with the help of wastewater facilities, or large-scale desalination.
