A wastewater treatment plant in Birjand County in South Khorasan Province was inaugurated by Energy Minister Ali Akbar Mehrabian on Friday to help tackle the worsening water crisis in the drought-stricken region.
The $30 million facility financed by ECO Trade and Development Bank has the capacity to treat 21,500 cubic meters of effluent per day, the Energy Ministry’s news portal Paven reported.
“This is the largest water project in the province financed by ECO Trade and Development Bank,” he added.
The bank is a regional multilateral lender established under the auspices of the Economic Cooperation Organization.
According to the minister, the plant's construction began in 2018.
The plant uses the activated sludge (AS) method to process sewage, which consists of three main components, namely an aeration tank, a settling tank and a return activated sludge.
“It will help preserve the city’s underground water resources and optimize wastewater for agriculture, as reclaimed wastewater is normally clean for farming needs,” he added.
The plant will provide services to 140,000 people.
"Almost 99% of Birjand residents are connected to the wastewater network," he said.
According to Mehrabian, wastewater should be deemed a precious resource from which energy and soil nutrients can be extracted, as well as an additional source of water.
Perpetual Drought
While Iran has been grappling with perpetual drought for at least 14 years, the drought-stricken province of South Khorasan is saddled with the disturbing phenomenon for 17 years, causing groundwater levels to drop by 60 meters.
Located in eastern Iran, South Khorasan’s dry climate and desert terrain make farming difficult but still 35% of the population relies on agriculture. Needless to say, drought has taken a heavy toll on the shrinking farming community, leaving in its trail a barren landscape and abandoned rural areas.
Recycling wastewater has come under the spotlight in recent years, as Iranian provinces continue to grapple with perennial drought that has left large swathes of land barren and is forcing large numbers to abandon rural homes as the business of farming comes to a near standstill wiping out livelihoods.
So far, 65,000 km of wastewater pipelines have been laid across the country and 300 cities are connected to the wastewater network.
Iran’s water recycling in agriculture is below 50%. Almost 90% of the scarce water resources is gulped down by the water-intensive and poorly-managed farming sector.
ECO is an intergovernmental regional organization established in 1985 by Iran, Pakistan and Turkey for the purpose of promoting economic, technical and cultural cooperation among the member states. In 1992, it was expanded to include Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
Work on the project to supply water to Birjand has resumed after a one-year gap, he noted.
With the allocation of funds, the project is expected to be completed within the next two years.
The project linking Mokhtaran Plain to Rakat Plain to supply water to Birjand was abandoned last year when it had made only 13% progress due to a lack of funds.
Credit Line
Now with the allocation of a new credit line worth $12 million, the project has restarted and when completed, 150 liters per second of water will be transferred to the provincial capital.
Birjand has been facing water stress in the past few years. A number of projects have been carried out to address the city's water supply problems, but more needs to be done.
At present, Birjand’s drinking water is supplied from 34 wells and four plains. On average, about 70,000 cubic meters of water are used daily in the city, which is the highest amount of water that can be provided to the city.
South Khorasan has 11 cities. Another plan to help alleviate the water issues in the eastern province includes the transfer of water from the Sea of Oman.
Extraction, desalination and transfer of water from the Oman Sea to Sistan-Baluchestan, South Khorasan and Khorasan Razavi provinces are among measures taken by the government to combat drought and help ease access to water in the three provinces.
When the project becomes fully operational, about 750 million cubic meters of freshwater will be supplied annually to three provinces for drinking and industrial use.
