The construction of the wastewater treatment plant in Minab County, Hormozgan Province, has been completed and is ready for inauguration, the managing director of the provincial Water and Wastewater Company said.
“The first phase of Minab Wastewater Treatment Plant with a capacity of 7,420 cubic meters per day has been completed at a cost of $4 million and will be launched before the year is out [March 20],” Abdolhamid Hamzehpour was also quoted as saying by the Energy Ministry’s news portal Paven.
“The city's sewage will be used for agricultural purposes and the first phase of the project will cover a population of 41,000 people,” he added.
According to Hamzehpour, 60 kilometers of the Minab sewage collection network have been completed and an additional 10 km are under construction.
The treatment plant has been designed in three phases. The other two phases will each have a capacity of treating 7,420 cubic meters of wastewater per day.
When all three phases come on stream, the plant will cover 73,000 people in the city and treat 22,860 cubic meters of sewage a day for farming.
Collecting sewage from across the city requires over 330 km of wastewater network and three pumping stations.
Minab, in the eastern part of Hormozgan, has always been an agricultural hub, thanks to its mild climate.
However, climate change, rising temperature and drought have dried up surface and ground water resources, undermining livelihoods in the southern regions.
Emerging pit craters is a recent problem in the area, aggravating the situation in the dry and water stressed region.
With 1,700 hectares of mango orchards, Minab is considered a hub for tropical fruits where lush green orchards bestow a special serenity to the city with hot weather.
Tomato is among the main agricultural products of the county. Most of the crop is sold to larger cities like Tehran, Mashhad and Isfahan, as well as Iraq, Russia and the Persian Gulf littoral states.
Other agricultural products include bell peppers, eggplant, cucumber, onions and watermelons. Wastewater is seen as a valuable resource for irrigation and industrial use.
Sirjan Wastewater Project
Paven quoted the managing director of Sirjan Water and Wastewater Company in Sirjan County, Kerman Province, as saying that the wastewater project in the county has registered 95% progress and will be launched within the next three months.
“About 362 km of the wastewater network have been implemented in Sirjan and the construction of the first phase of the sewage treatment plant with a capacity of 26,500 cubic meters per day is near completion,” Majid Mirshahi added.
The official noted that so far, 12,000 households have been connected to the network and the figure will increase in the coming months.
According to the International Water Association, almost 80% of all wastewater are discharged into the world's waterways, leading to health, environmental and climate-related hazards.
Estimates suggest global wastewater treatment capacity is 70% of the total wastewater produced in high-income countries and 8% in low-income countries.
A total of 252 wastewater treatment plants with a capacity of 5.7 million cubic meters per day are operating in different parts of Iran.
Currently, 53% of the population, equivalent to 36 million people, are covered by the sewerage system.
At present, 71,114 kilometers of water pipelines have been laid across the country and more than 8.5 million households are connected to the wastewater collection network.
A total of 87 wastewater treatment plants, with a capacity of 1.73 million cubic meters, are under construction nationwide.
Last year (ended March 2022), the amount of treated wastewater amounted to 1.49 billion cubic meters per year, about half of which was used in the agricultural sector and the rest by industries and municipalities.
As water shortage has reached critical levels, more farmers and industrialists are willing to tap into unconventional resources to meet demand.
Located in one of the world’s most water-stressed regions, Iran’s average precipitation rate has been lower than the global average for at least 10 years. Some experts and environmentalists denounce a widely-held notion that chronic water shortages can only be alleviated by higher precipitation.
