To supply rural residents of the southern Hormozgan Province with piped water, the construction of three desalination plants with a capacity of 34,000 cubic meters per day is underway, the head of the provincial Water and Wastewater Company said.
“The new facilities, estimated to cost $27 million, are expected to raise the current output capacity at 230,000 cubic meters per day by at least 15%,” the Energy Ministry’s news portal also quoted Abdolhamid Hamzehpour as saying.
Giving a breakdown on the projects, the official noted that Charak desalination unit, 66 km away from the city of Bastak, can process 8,000 cubic meters of seawater per day.
“Estimated to cost $8 million, the first scheme entails 66 km of pipeline, seven water storage tanks, four pumping stations and 50 km of power transmission lines,” he added.
Referring to the second scheme amid at supplying water to 40,000 people in Ruydar rural area, Hamzehpour said a 100-km pipeline is being laid to transfer water from the Bandar Abbas Desalination Plant to Khamir County. The development plan will cost $16 million.
Using reverse osmosis technology, the Bandar Abbas Desalination Plant purifies 120,000 cubic meters of water per day, a part of which will be diverted to rural regions in Khamir County.
To help address the water crisis in the region where underground resources are drying up rapidly, producing water from saline water sources is inevitable, he added.
According to the official, the last plan is aimed at supplying 12,000 cubic meters of desalinated water to rural areas, such as Salkh, Basaeed, Tourgan on Qeshm Island.
“Three desalination plants, each with a processing capacity of 4,000 cubic meters of seawater, are being built in Qeshm at a cost of $3 million to supply quality water to 56,000 people,” he said.
There are 85 desalination units in Iran, of which 41 are in the coastal province.
Desalination plants in Hormozgan meet 26% of total demand in the area; wells and dams account for 74%.
Chronic Water Shortage
Hormozgan has a population of 1.6 million, of which 1.3 million are covered by the provincial water company. It is a dry province with low rainfall, suffering from a chronic water shortage.
To help address the water deficit where underground resources are drying up fast, producing water from saline water sources is unavoidable although the process produces large quantities of brine that is denser than seawater, sinks to the seabed and damages the marine ecosystem.
Villages in the area have been abandoned and the expansion of Bandar Abbas water desalination infrastructure can help curb migration and contribute to sustainable rural development in the dry regions.
Experts say the fledgling domestic desalination industry should be able to meet the potable water demand of Iran’s Persian Gulf littoral provinces.
Tapping into the sea to produce clean water is high on the Energy Ministry’s agenda, as it is seen as more viable for ensuring sustainable supplies rather than depleting the fast-dwindling underground water tables, most of which are drying up.
Iran's annual water consumption is about 100 billion cubic meters, of which less than 200 million cubic meters are produced by desalination plants in coastal provinces, namely Khuzestan, Hormozgan and Bushehr.
Approximately 142 million cubic meters of seawater are desalinated daily around the globe. However, Iran's share is as little as 500,000 cubic meters per day.
Hamzehpour noted that dependence on rainwater and river runoff in drought-stricken regions can no longer meet mounting demand.
As the water situation worsens and economic pressures pile up, rural folks are abandoning villages and migrating in bigger numbers to cities.
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.
Referring to the sewage grid in the area, he noted that six cities, namely Banda Abbas, Roudan, Daragahan, Minab, Hormoz and Aboumousa have wastewater collection network and the grid will cover more small towns and villages in the southern province.
According to Misaq Molaei, an energy analyst, using nuclear reactors to operate seawater desalination plants can be cost-effective in areas straddling the southern coasts of Iran, as they meet most of their potable water demand from nearby provinces.
The cost of treating seawater using fossil fuels is about 75 cents for each cubic meter of water, while it stands at around 30 cents in nuclear desalination plants, he added.
