Projects are underway to supply 4.2 billion cubic meters of desalinated water from the Sea of Oman to Iranian regions facing water scarcity, the spokesperson of the water industry, affiliated to the Energy Ministry, said.
“This is while the water transfer project from the Caspian Sea is no longer on the agenda of the ministry,” Firouz Qasemzadeh was also quoted as saying by ILNA.
Speaking about the transfer of water from southern Iran, he said, “Five pipelines were defined in this regard, two of which have already become operational and three more are being laid.”
The spokesman said ongoing projects will transfer water to Yazd, Isfahan and eastern regions.
Industrial Use
A project has already been launched for transferring the Persian Gulf water to central Iran for industrial use.
The first phase of the plan was launched in 2020 and supplied water to Golgohar Mining and Industrial Complex in Sirjan, Kerman. It included a desalination unit in Bandar Abbas, 10 pumping stations, 40 water storage tanks, 14 power substations and a 150-kilovolt power transmission line from Hormozgan to Kerman and Yazd.
The second phase of the project to divert water from the Persian Gulf to Kerman and Yazd provinces has registered over 70% progress. It includes an 850-km pipeline to annually transfer 180 million cubic meters of desalinated water from the Bandar Abbas Desalination Plant in southern Hormozgan Province to Sarcheshmeh Copper Mine in Rafsanjan County, Kerman Province, and the Chadormalu Mining and Industrial Company in Ardakan County, Yazd Province.
With the completion of the new phase, other industries in Yazd Province will also be provided with water from the Persian Gulf and reduce their dependence on groundwater, the level of which has declined in recent years.
Central Province
A water pipeline, over 920 kilometers long, will link Sirik County, Hormozgan Province, in southern Iran to the central province of Isfahan.
When the first phase is completed, about 200 million cubic meters of water will be transferred annually from the sea, which figure will rise to 400 mcm per year upon the project’s completion in about two years.
The desalinated water will be used in the industries and mines of the province that have limited access to underground water resources.
Disorganized urbanization, obsolete farming practices and the presence of water-intensive industries have resulted in the region’s rapidly dwindling water reserves.
Groundwater resources in the parched province are shrinking by a massive 3.6 billion cubic meters per annum. Of the total annual extraction, 3.3 bcm are used by 41,000 authorized wells and the rest by 21,000 illegal wells.
Eastern Regions
The project to transfer water from the Oman Sea to tackle the water crisis in the parched Sistan-Baluchestan, South Khorasan and Khorasan Razavi provinces has registered a work-in-progress rate of over 25%.
The venture, estimated to cost about $4 billion, is expected to become operational in 2025.
Desalinated seawater will be pumped from Chabahar to Zahedan where a 1,530-km pipeline is being laid to South Khorasan and Khorasan Razavi provinces.
When the project becomes fully operational, an estimated 700 million cubic meters of freshwater will be supplied annually to the three provinces for drinking and industrial use.
In South Khorasan and Khorasan Razavi provinces, the water will be supplied to industrial units, whereas in Sistan-Baluchestan the water will be piped for household use.
The three provinces have long been suffering from an acute water shortage. Environmentalists and experts say water transfer from the Sea of Oman through pipelines to the parched and water-stressed regions is the last option to tackle the water crisis.
Caspian Water Transfer
In the past, officials insisted on transferring water from the Caspian Sea to Semnan Province as the only solution to meet the growing demand of farmers and industries, although environmentalists and economic experts have rejected the issue for posing an existential threat to the fragile ecosystem.
Prominent conservatives have declared in unequivocal terms that even if the plan were to benefit Semnan, it is bad news for the green and serene northern regions of Golestan and Mazandaran – the two main tourist hubs in Iran for centuries.
According to environmentalists, transferring water from the Caspian Sea to Semnan would destroy the two regions’ pristine nature and convert it into desert areas like Yazd and Isfahan that are permanently fixated on water deficits.
As a result, the government has cancelled the project and no water will be transferred from the Caspian Sea.
