The Energy Ministry plans to raise Iran’s desalinated water capacity for household supply to 7% by 2025 from the current 3% and reach 15% by 2040.
Currently, 75 water desalination plants are operating across the country with a total capacity of 444,000 cubic meters per day, or 162 million cubic meters a year, the Energy Today website reported.
The output is in accordance with national standards related to microbial, physical and chemical parameters.
There are also 20 desalination units in different stages of construction, which will raise the current capacity by 195,000 cubic meters per day or 71.3 million cubic meters per year.
The ongoing projects will be completed with a total investment of $67 million.
Over 90% of the projects belong to Hormozgan, Bushehr, Sistan-Baluchestan and Khuzestan provinces that are located along the coastlines of the Persian Gulf and Sea of Oman in southern Iran.
To tackle the country’s water shortage, desalination has become an attractive method to supply water to households and industries.
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 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.
Large- and medium-sized desalination plants are desirable in coastal regions where salty water resources are in abundance.
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%.
Annual Water Consumption
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.
Approximately 142 million cubic meters of seawater are desalinated daily throughout the globe.
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.
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 provinces, including Isfahan, Hormozgan and Semnan, have already started to reuse water either with the help of wastewater facilities, or desalination plants.
