Twenty six power and water projects were officially inaugurated in four provinces on Thursday. Costing over $100 million, four were in West Azarbaijan in the northwest, nine in Isfahan, 10 in Mazandaran and three in Ardabil, IRNA reported.
The most important project was the Kani Sib Dam in Piranshahr, West Azarbaijan to supply water to Urmia Lake. One of the main goals of the dam is to transfer 600 million cubic meters of water per year to the lake. Another 100 mcm will be supplied for farming in the region.
Restoration of Lake Urmia is critical because agriculture, health, and livelihood of 15 million people in the western part of the country are dependent on the lake known as the “green jewel”.
In a coordinated effort to save the lake in 2013, Iran started a joint project with the UN Development Program. Revival efforts focused on redirecting rivers to irrigate farmland, avoid use of water from the lake and help promote sustainable farming.
Urmia Lake began shrinking in the mid-2000s due to decades of drought and rising summer temperatures. The size of the lake had dwindled to less than 1,780 square kilometers in 2014 but the restoration programs helped raise it to 3,000 km2. Surface area of Iran’s largest inland body of water increased 68% in the past 5 years.
Without the restoration plan, the lake would be a dead lake and salt storms would seriously endanger the livelihood of 6.5 million people living in a 120-kilometer radius. Located between the provinces of East and West Azarbaijan, Urmia Lake is a closed water body fed through 21 permanent and 39 seasonal rivers.
In addition to the opening of Kani Sib Dam, several other projects were launched in West Azarbaijan including an irrigation and drainage network downstream of the Karamabad-e Poldasht Dam and eight rural electricity projects.
The nine projects launched in Isfahan were in the field of electricity including distribution stations, which aimed at increasing the stability of the network and reducing the voltage drop and electricity waste among others.
Five small-scale power plants came on stream in Mazandaran on Thursday too. Supplying water to 57 villages in the northern province was also among the launched projects. Currently, 40% of the Rural population in Mazandaran have access to potable water.
Increasing the capacity of two substations and power supply to five villages were also carried out in Ardabil.
According to the Energy Ministry, another 60 power and water projects will come on line by the end of the current Persian calendar year (March 2021).
