• Energy

    Rising Desalination Capacity to Help Overcome Water Challenges

    The water needs of people living along the 100-km border in Sistan-Baluchestan, Hormozgan, Khuzestan and Bushehr provinces should be met fully from seawater in the not-too distant future

    There are 76 desalination plants in northern and southern coastal regions in Iran with a capacity of processing 407,000 cubic meters of saline water per day that will reach 800,000 cm/d by 2025, the head of Department of Financial Affairs in the National Water and Wastewater Engineering Company of Iran (Abfa) said.

    “A total of 15 desalination projects with a processing capacity of 156,000 cubic meters of saline water will become operational in 2022,” Fariba Golrizan was also quoted as saying by ISNA.

    To tackle the country’s water shortage, desalination is becoming an attractive method to supply water to households and industries. 

    “All initiatives are being undertaken by the private sector in the dry provinces of the south and the current processing capacity is expected to reach 567,000 cubic meters per day over the next 15 months,” she said.

    “As per long-term contracts between Abfa and private companies, the former is obliged to purchase processed water from the latter for at least 20 years.”

    Years of drought have left decision-makers with little option but to meet a bigger share of freshwater needed for the growing population from seawater.

    Referring to the coastal areas off the Persian Gulf and Sea of Oman, she said, “The water needs of the people living along the 100-km border in Sistan-Baluchestan, Hormozgan, Khuzestan and Bushehr provinces should be met fully from seawater in the not-too distant future.”

    Currently, water desalination units provide a large volume of potable water in the northern and southern coastal areas.

    Around coastal regions where salty water resources are in abundance, large and semi-large desalination plants are desirable.

    Experts believe Iran's fledgling desalination industry should meet the need for potable water in provinces located on the Persian Gulf coastline. As a result, tapping into the sea to produce clean water is high on the Energy Ministry agenda, as it is much more viable for maintaining a sustainable supply of water rather than depleting the fast-dwindling underground resources, most of which are on the verge of drying up.

     

     

    Meager Share

    Despite the fact that 76 plants are functioning in different parts of Iran, desalinated water comprises a meager 0.1% of the total annual water consumption while in some neighboring countries like Saudi Arabia it is 70%.

    Iran's annual water consumption is about 100 billion cubic meters, of which less than 100 million cubic meters are produced by desalination plants in coastal regions, namely Khuzestan, Hormozgan and Bushehr.

    Approximately 142 million cubic meters of seawater are desalinated daily throughout the globe. However, Iran's share is as little as 407,000 cubic meters (per day).

    According to Shahin Pakrouh, deputy chief engineer at Abfa, dependence on rainwater and river runoff in drought-stricken regions can no longer meet mounting demand. 

    That is why unconventional water resources, such as reclaimed and desalinated water, have emerged as effective solutions for the sustainable and long-term management of drinking water in parched regions like Hormozgan and Bushehr. 

    Unconventional water resources are generated as a byproduct of specialized processes such as desalination; or that need suitable pre-use treatment before use for irrigation.

    The significance of water reuse as a solution to Iran’s worsening water problems has increased in recent years. 

    Many regions, namely Isfahan, Hormozgan and Semnan, have already started to reuse water either with the help of wastewater facilities, or large-scale desalination.