The second phase of Ghadir Water Supply Project was launched in Abadan on Monday.
Completed at a cost of $38 million, it provides water from Karkheh River to Ghadir Water Treatment Plant and onward to Samen Water Treatment Plant and finally to about 75 villages in Abadan County, IRNA reported.
The project adds 20,000 cubic meters of potable water per day to the water available in rural regions. An estimated 55,000 people in the rural areas of the southwestern Khuzestan Province will benefit from the new source of fresh water.
The Ghadir project was launched eight years ago to alleviate the water problem, curb pollution of fresh water resources and reduce salt content in the water networks supplying Abadan, Andimeshk, Dezful, Khorramshahr, Ahwaz, Shadegan and other cities and rural areas.
The major project included of pumping stations, storage tanks and pipelines.
Third phase of the project will supply water from the Dez River. When fully complete, the 4.7 million population in Khuzestan will benefit from stable water supply through pipelines extending 880 kilometers.
New Desalination Units
Construction of five new desalination units in Khuzestan started on Monday in the presence of Energy Minister Reza Ardakanian.
He attended the groundbreaking ceremony of the plant in Samen Water Treatment Plant in Abadan, which will produce 15,000 cubic meters of fresh water per day.
The unit will be equipped with reverse osmosis system, a water purification technology that uses semi permeable membrane to remove ions, molecules and larger particles from drinking water.
The project is a BOO (build, own, operate) undertaking and will cost $4.2 million.
“AS of now over 32,500 cubic meters of water is desalinated in Khuzestan Province on a daily basis,” Ardakanian said, adding that five new projects will add 46,000 cubic meters to the supply system.
The other desalination plants whose construction began Monday are located in Khorramshahr City (with a capacity of 12,500 cubic meters of water per day, at a cost of $3.5 million), Bavi County (12,500 cubic meters, $3.5 million), Arvandkenar City (3,500 cubic meters, $1.4 million), and Chavibdeh City (2,500 cubic meters, $1.1 million). Private companies are implementing the water projects.
Water desalination plants provide large quantities of potable water in the northern and southern coastal regions.
There are 73 desalination plants in the country with a capacity to produce 420,000 cubic meters of water per day, and 148 million cubic meters per annum. Plans call for increasing daily desalination capacity to 600,000 cubic meters a day by 2021.
