A total of 20 desalination projects with a processing capacity of 200,000 cubic meters of saline water will become operational by 2025, the deputy for supervision and planning at the National Water and Wastewater Engineering Company of Iran (Abfa) said.
“The plans are estimated to cost $100 million and when operational, Iran’s current desalination capacity of 450,000 cubic meters per day will reach 650,000 cm/d,” Hashem Amini was quoted as saying by IRNA.
Abfa operates 75 desalination plants in Iran’s northern and southern coastal regions, which were completed by the state-run company at a cost of $300 million, he added.
Amini noted that in order to tackle the country’s water shortage, desalination is becoming an attractive method to supply water to households and industries.
“All 20 initiatives are being undertaken by the private sector in the dry provinces of the south and the current processing capacity is expected to reach 550,000 cubic meters per day over the next 15 months,” he said.
“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 needed for the growing population from seawater.
Experts believe Iran's fledgling desalination industry should meet the need for potable water in provinces located on the Persian Gulf coastline.
Sustainable Supply
Tapping into the sea to produce clean water is high on the Energy Ministry 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 0.1% 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 less than 100 million cubic meters are produced by desalination plants in coastal regions, namely Khuzestan, Hormozgan and Bushehr.
Approximately 142 million cubic meters of seawater are desalinated daily throughout the globe. However, Iran's share is as little as 407,000 cubic meters (per day).
According to Shahin Pakrouh, deputy chief engineer at Abfa, 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 like Hormozgan and Bushehr.
Unconventional water resources are generated as a byproduct of specialized processes such as desalination; or wastewater that undergo pre-use treatment before it could be used use for irrigation.
The significance of water reuse as a solution to Iran’s worsening water problems has increased in recent years.
Many regions, namely Isfahan, Hormozgan and Semnan, have already started to reuse water either with the help of wastewater facilities, or large-scale desalination.
