Fifteen water and wastewater projects costing $34 million were inaugurated in Yazd Province on Tuesday.
Four water and wastewater projects became operational in Bafq County in the central province with an investment of $23 million, the Energy Ministry news portal Paven reported.
One of the projects was the wastewater treatment plant with a capacity of 7,000 cubic meters per day. The sewerage system in Bafq covers 65,000 people now.
Asghar Riazati, managing director of Yazd Water and Wastewater Company, was quoted as saying by Paven that 75% of the county are covered by the sewerage system, which figure stands at 32% for the whole province.
“Two more wastewater treatment plants in the province are under construction. They have registered more than 85% progress and are expected to come on stream in two months,” he said, adding that upon their completion, 43% of the urban population in the province will be connected to the wastewater network.
A water tank with a capacity of 10,000 cubic meters was also installed to supply water under critical circumstances and compensate any shortage in summer.
A desalination facility with a capacity of 2,000 cubic meters per day also became operational to ensure a sustainable water supply in the county.
Riazati said currently, almost all urban areas of Yazd have access to potable water.
Another project was completed to supply water to 20 Bafq villages, covering a population of 3,000.
Water was also supplied to 50 more villages across the province on Tuesday. Now, 68% of the rural areas of the province are supplied with drinking water, which figure will reach 71% by the end of summer.
Three other water tanks with a total capacity of 35,000 cubic meters were also launched in the cities of Herat, Meybod and Ardakan.
Electricity was supplied to Patkestan Village in Ardakan County and a wastewater treatment plant was inaugurated in Taft County on Tuesday.
Water Development Projects
The executive operations of six large water projects, including the installation of water pipelines and the construction of pumping stations and a wastewater treatment plant, were started in Yazd with an investment of $285 million.
Expanding water projects in both urban and rural regions of Yazd, which has a hot desert climate, is of great importance.
According to the provincial Water Company, agriculture accounts for 83% of the water used in the arid Yazd Province.
There are 19 plains in the region, of which 16 are in critical conditions due to excessive water extraction from their underground aqueducts.
On average, 700 million cubic meters of water annually enter the underground aquifers in the region, whereas water extracted from groundwater sources in the desert central province every year is more than 1 billion cubic meters, resulting in a severe water deficit.
Groundwater overdraft, surpassing 3.2 bcm over the last 20 years, has increased dust storms and created sinkholes in the plains. In addition, it has raised salt content in the groundwater while land subsidence has worsened.
