Continuous drought in recent years has caused serious challenges regarding water supply to Mashhad, the capital city of Khorasan Razavi Province, because of which about 25% of the city’s water needs are expected to be provided by treated wastewater in the next 20 years, managing director of Mashhad Water and Wastewater Company said.
“About 82% of the metropolis are connected to the wastewater collection network plan. Mashhad is one of the pioneers in using treated wastewater, as the city used it in the agricultural sector about 15 years ago,” Hossein Esmaeilian was also quoted as saying by the Energy Ministry’s news portal.
According to the official, projects with a total investment of $150 million are underway by the private sector, including the construction of wastewater treatment plants and expansion of the sewer network.
The treated wastewater will be used in green spaces and industries, as well as mining and service sectors. This way, more drinking water can be supplied to the domestic sector, he added.
Currently, the water requirement of Mashhad's green space is 25 million cubic meters per year. However, only about 3 mcm of the effluent in the city are used for watering green space now, which will reach 7 mcm soon.
When all the ongoing projects are complete, 25 mcm of treated wastewater will be supplied to the urban green space annually.
Precipitation in Khorasan Razavi Province has plummeted by a massive 60% over the last two years, which is unprecedented in the past 50 years.
Since the beginning of the last water year [Sept. 23, 2021), rainfall has declined by 25% compared with the long-term average, causing the volume of water in 16 dams of the region to reduce by about 80%.
The current water crisis has been aggravated by the seemingly perennial drought as well as years of bad resource management, especially in the province’s agriculture sector. Digging unauthorized wells and water pollution also contribute to the problem.
Sealing illegal wells and installing smart meters on authorized water wells are among measures undertaken to reverse the dangerous consumption trend.
