The Energy Ministry has launched several plans to increase Iran’s desalination capacity by at least 400,000 cubic meters per day in two years with the help of the private sector, the deputy for supervision and planning at the National Water and Wastewater Engineering Company of Iran said.
“Currently, 75 desalination units are operational in different regions of the country with a total capacity of 443,000 cubic meters per day,” Hashem Amini was also quoted as saying by IRNA.
“Twenty projects with a capacity of 194,000 cubic meters per day and an investment of $40 million are under construction,” he added.
Amini noted that executive operations of several other units will start soon so that over 200,000 cubic meters per day will be added to the desalination capacity.
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 along the Persian Gulf coastline.
The ongoing projects are carried out in Khuzestan, Bushehr, Hormozgan and Sistan-Baluchestan provinces, all located along the coasts of the Persian Gulf and Sea of Oman
A plan is also underway to build a desalination facility in the city of Hendijan in Khuzestan Province.
The new plant, estimated to cost $50 million, is expected to supply 70,000 people in rural districts with piped water.
With a capacity of 25,000 cubic meters per day, the facility will be completed in 24 months by domestic engineers. It will help meet water demand not only in Hendijan but also in Zohreh, Mahshahr, Imam Khomeini Port and Chamran cities.
Hendijan is a 3,000-year-old city in southeast Khuzestan, sharing 95 kilometers of coastline with the Persian Gulf in the south.
The projects underway in Bushehr Province will help provide drinking water for 70% of the population of the province in the near future.
Currently, desalination facilities in the southern province produce 45,000 cubic meters of freshwater per day and when the new projects are completed, the figure will reach 100,000 cubic meters per day by the end of the current Iranian year (March 20).
The province has a population of about 1.5 million people and only 10% of the drinking water required in the province are supplied by desalination plants, but when the ongoing projects become operational, the figure will reach 40%.
Located in southwestern Iran, the arid province is one of the most water-stressed regions where water authorities supply water through tankers.
Bushehr is located along the Persian Gulf coastline. However, due to a lack of desalination plants, 65% of Bushehr’s water are supplied by other provinces, such as Kohgilouyeh-Boyerahmad. But as the water is transferred via rusty pipes laid 25 years ago, around 40% of water are wasted on the way.
Southern, Southeastern Regions
To improve water supply to rural areas, construction work has been started to build a desalination facility on Qeshm Island, Hormozgan Province in southern Iran.
With a capacity of 5,000 cubic meters per day, the facility is expected to be completed before the summer ends.
The new plant, estimated to cost $10 million, is expected to supply 23,000 people in the rural districts with tap water.
The construction of the new plant as well as two other facilities (Salakh and Basaeed on Qeshm Island), will increase desalination capacity in the region by 12,000 cubic meters of seawater per day that would be sufficient to supply 42,000 people with potable water.
Similar to other provinces, underground resources are drying up rapidly in Hormozgan and tapping into unconventional water resources, namely treated seawater, has become a pressing need.
The launch of the first phase of a water pipeline to supply people of Chabahar County in Sistan-Baluchestan Province with drinking water from a new desalination plant is halfway through and with the completion of the project, piped water will be provided for 122,000 people in Chabahar.
The first phase will supply 25,000 cubic meters per day of water via 22 kilometers of pipelines.
When the project becomes fully operational, 50,000 cubic meters per day of seawater will be desalinated to meet the water needs of Chabahar, Kanarak and a number of coastal villages.
Sistan-Baluchestan is the second largest province of Iran, bordering Afghanistan and Pakistan in the southeast. The region has been struggling with water shortage for more than two decades.
Chabahar County has a population of about 228,000 people, of which more than 122,000 live in Chabahar City. Currently, out of 276 villages in the county, 204 receive piped water and 72 get drinking water via tankers.
Almost half the population of the underdeveloped region live in rural areas and 250,000 people do not have access to piped water.
