Khuzestan’s Governor General Gholamreza Shariati said a project is underway to supply clean, drinkable water to the drought-stricken cities of Abadan and Khorramshahr within days, whose residents are suffering a severe shortage of potable water.
“Authorities in Khuzestan are working round the clock to bring on stream a project of water transfer from Karkheh River to Abadan and Khorramshahr by June 6,” Shariati was quoted by Zist Online as saying on Saturday.
Karkheh is a river with drinkable water, running through the city of Andimeshk, north of the province.
He said the project will also supply the running water needs of some other cities of Khuzestan, namely Susangerd, Dasht-e Azadegan and Shadegan.
Critical Situation
The southwestern province has recently seen its water supply strained to critical levels, leaving most of its population without potable water.
The worsening water scarcity has prompted street protests by the struggling people of Khorramshahr in recent days.
They were venting anger mainly over the poor management of water resources that has let salty, sludgy water into the city’s supply network. Shariati blamed a rupture in a main water pipeline for the crisis.
“The rupture caused the salinity level of drinking water in Abadan and Khorramshahr to rise to 12,000 EC units, rendering it completely undrinkable,” he said.
“With the pipeline coming back online last night, the water supply capacity of Abadan and Khorramshahr increased by 80,000 and 110,000 cubic meters per second, which would significantly reduce water salinity.”
Domestic and international organizations alike have warned that the prospect of a devastating drought is looming large over parts of Iran.
“Although Iran has a history of drought, over the last decade, it has experienced its most prolonged, extensive and severe drought in over 30 years,” the Food and Agriculture Organization, a United Nations agency, said in a recent report.
Iranian officials have acknowledged that outdated agricultural and irrigation systems and poor water management policies in the past three decades have contributed to nationwide water shortages.
