A total of 95 water desalination plants with an aggregate capacity of 634,000 cubic meters per day are either operational or being built across the country, the head of the Department of Financial Affairs at the National Water and Wastewater Engineering Company of Iran (Abfa) said.
“Of these, 75 plants with a capacity of 440,000 cubic meters per day are operational and 20 projects with a capacity of about 200,000 cubic meters per day and an investment of $67 million are under construction,” Fariba Golrizan was also quoted as saying by the Energy Ministry’s news portal Paven.
Over 90% of water supply contracts signed by desalination plants belong to Hormozgan, Bushehr, Sistan-Baluchestan and Khuzestan provinces that are located along the coastlines of the Persian Gulf and Sea of Oman in the southern regions of Iran, she added.
Regarding the quality of water produced by desalination facilities, Golrizan said the output is in accordance with national standards pertaining to microbial, physical and chemical parameters.
“The criteria for the standards are very strict and the final outcome is high quality water. Based on the government's plan to boost water desalination capacity and the use of these facilities, in the next four years, at least 400,000 cubic meters per day will be added to the capacity of the country's water desalination,” she said.
Water Supply Projects
Major water supply projects will desalinate Persian Gulf waters to meet a part of the drinking water needs of Hormozgan, Kerman and Yazd provinces, she stressed.
Golrizan said the plan to transfer water from the Sea of Oman to Sistan-Baluchistan Province is being carried out, and it is expected to add at least 150,000 cubic meters per day to the country’s desalination capacity.
To tackle the country’s water shortage, desalination has become an attractive method to supply water to households and industries.
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 needs of the growing population with desalinated seawater.
Currently, desalination units provide a large volume of potable water in the northern and southern coastal areas.
Large- and medium-sized desalination plants are desirable in coastal regions where salty water resources are in abundance.
Experts believe Iran's fledgling desalination industry should meet the need for potable water in provinces located along the Persian Gulf coastline. As a result, tapping into the sea to produce clean water is high on the Energy Ministry’s 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.
Despite the fact that 75 plants are functioning in different parts of Iran, desalinated water comprises a meager 3% 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 about 160 million cubic meters are produced by desalination plants in coastal regions.
