Isfahan Steel Company, Iran's biggest producer of structural steel, signed a $30 million agreement Thursday with state-owned Isfahan Province Water and Wastewater Company (a subsidiary of the National Water and Wastewater Engineering Company of Iran) to expand wastewater infrastructure in rural areas, head of the water company said.
“The steel company will expand wastewater network to 25 small towns by 500 kilometers and develop treatment plants in Fouladshahr, a district in Lenjan County and Imanshahr in Falavarjan County, in the next two years,” Hashem Amini was quotes as saying by the Energy Ministry news portal.
To curb fresh water use in the arid province that has been suffering from drought for years, the giant steelmaker has spent $300 million on wastewater projects in the last decade, Amini said.
A part of the factory's need has been met from Zayandehroud Dam, but due to the chronic water shortages the steelmaker is rethinking policy with the understanding that using water from Zayandehroud Dam is not an option anymore.
“Developing wastewater infrastructure can help ensure that recycling can better address the company’s need for long-term supplies.”
The network and plant development project is estimated to cost $30 million in the first phase.
Once completed, the plants’ treated wastewater will be sold to the steelmaker through a 100-kilometer pipeline for 20 years and the steel producer will be supplied with 5 million cubic meters of recycled sewage per year.
Fouladshahr wastewater plant is designed for 14,000 cubic meter of wastewater a day and the expansion plan will raise capacity by 1,000 cubic meters.
Referring to similar moves, Amini said a 5-km pipeline was laid last year to transfer wastewater from lagoons in Zarrin-Shahr to wastewater treatment facilities in the steel company.
Moreover, laying an 18-km pipeline to supply wastewater from Najafabad to the steel company is on the agenda. There is no denying that steelmakers are using huge amounts of water in dry regions like Isfahan and the need to recycle and reuse wastewater has become a dire issue.
Full-Fledged Crisis
According to experts including Parviz Kardavani, a veteran eremologist and faculty member of Tehran University, Iran is fast approaching a full-fledged water crisis and if sustainable solutions are not found “water-intensive industries and the agriculture sector will become a thing of the past sooner rather than later”.
The attitude of “developing industries come what may” will inflict substantial losses, he has warned.
“These industries should have been built in the coastal regions where there is sufficient access to seawater. Now that it is impossible to relocate, they must develop wastewater infrastructure,” Kardavani said.
The no-nonsense conservationist has for years called for rewriting macro industrial policies, namely those related to and dependent on water like steel plants, but the plea has fallen on deaf ears.
"I’m really amazed how officials keep inaugurating dozens of factories in Yazd and Isfahan without considering the implications of such unsustainable development," he said, adding that such plants need colossal volumes of water while the people's access to the resource remains limited.
Greywater Systems
Amini, the Isfahan water official, said the provincial engineering council is building infrastructure for greywater treatment systems in urban and suburban areas.
Isfahan University and Isfahan City Center (a major commercial and entertainment mall) have been equipped with greywater reuse systems and plan to expand it.
Greywater is defined as all wastewater generated in the home, except toilet water (which is considered blackwater). After Yazd, Isfahan is the second biggest industrial hub where 70% of Iran’s steel is produced.
