The transfer of desalinated water from the Persian Gulf to drought-stricken Kerman and Yazd provinces will cost 150,000 rials (50 cents) per cubic meter, a senior consultant of the Energy Ministry said.
“The exorbitant costs of inter-basin water projects mean that only private sector industrialists can invest in such mega projects and the valuable resource should only be used to produce value-added commodities that can be exported like steel,” Mohammad Hajrasouliha was also quoted as saying by ILNA.
The consultant noted that the government currently does not plan to finance such projects due to financial constraints, but it welcomes the industrial sector to fund similar initiatives that can help meet a part of industries’ water demand.
Referring to a major project to supply water from the Persian Gulf to Kerman Province that went on stream in 2020, Hajrasouliha said Chadormalu Company, Golgohar Complex and the National Iranian Copper Industries Company covered 60% of the total cost that amounted to $800 million and the rest was borrowed from the National Development Fund of Iran — the country's sovereign wealth fund — and the Hamburg-based Iranian-European Bank, affiliated to Iran’s Bank of Industry and Mine.
The plan entailed a 500-km pipeline to divert 200 million cubic meters of desalinated water per year from the Bandar Abbas desalination plant in southern Hormozgan Province to Golgohar Mining and Industrial Complex in Sirjan, Kerman Province, Sarcheshmeh Copper Mine in Rafsanjan County and Chadormalu Mining and Industrial Company in Yazd.
“The supply of such expensive water to farmers will increase the prices of agro products and increase inflation. Nonetheless, because industrial units can export the bulk of their products, they can cover a part of their water-related expenses, but the case is not so for the farming sector,” he added.
Nevertheless, studies have been carried out on ways to transfer water from the Oman Sea to the provinces of Sistan-Baluchestan, South Khorasan and Khorasan Razavi.
Funding Constraints
With the completion of water transfer from the Persian Gulf to Kerman Province, plans are underway to supply water from the southeast region to South Khorasan Province, Mostafa Nakhaei, the representative of Nehbandan and Sarbisheh counties in the parliament, said.
The lawmaker added that infrastructure projects are still on hold due to the government’s funding problems and the private sector’s reluctance to finance the plan.
Dubbing unfinished rural water supply projects as “one of the biggest problems” in South Khorasan, Nakhaei said the issue of providing drinking water to rural and nomadic areas is being followed up by the Energy Ministry.
“It has been decided that three banks, Refah, Saderat and Melli, will allocate $25 million to the projects,” Nakhaei said.
South Khorasan has been facing drought and low rainfall for more than two decades.
“Currently, 32% and over 42% of drinking water are wasted in urban and rural areas, respectively, that is 10% higher than the national average,” Hossein Emami, managing director of the provincial water company, said.
“Annual water consumption in South Khorasan is 1 billion cubic meters, of which 900 million cubic meters are used by farmers."
Due to the lack of permanent rivers and lack of connection to the sea, water in the border and desert province is supplied from groundwater sources, including wells, springs and aqueducts.
Wells account for 63% of the water demand, with 250 mcm supplied by underground aqueducts and the rest from groundwater resources like rivers and dams, which are drying up due to the extensive use for farming and non-agricultural use.
“While plans, including the installation of smart meters, have helped reduce water consumption in the farm sector, population growth and industrial development have pushed up consumption,” Emami said, adding that water waste in the network should be reduced to 15%.
“Since the beginning of the current fiscal year [March 2021], 59 km of rural drinking water network and 1,100 water meters have been replaced. In the urban regions, we need to replace almost 262 km of pipelines and in the rural areas 518 km.”
