Chronic water outages in and around the city of Kerman in Kerman Province, which has made life miserable in vast areas over the last few days, will end when deep-water wells are dug, the managing director of Kerman Water and Wastewater Company said.
“Projects are underway to dig eight wells, three of which will become operational this week to alleviate the residents’ desperate situation that has driven them over the edge,” Alireza Abdian was also quoted as saying by IRNA.
“At least 30 water tankers are dispatched every day to areas where water supplies have been disrupted and this will continue until conditions normalize,” he said.
“We know that people are enduring hardship, but as soon as the wells are ready, the problem will be resolved.”
Blaming the hot weather and unprecedented rise in water consumption in the parched region, the official noted that water theft is a huge problem in Kerman and close to 80% of suburban dwellers are illegal subscribers whose pipes have created big troubles for the water company.
“Around 15,000 households in development towns in Kerman are using water illegally and when consumption increases in summer, they face water shortages,” he added.
Refuting claims that water will be rationed in the city, Abdian noted that there are no such plans and the new wells are expected to tackle the issue over the next few days.
“The more judiciously water is used, the fewer outages they will experience,” he said.
The mercury in Kerman on Monday afternoon showed 42 °C.
Water Stress
According to the official, about 750 villages with more than 20 households in Kerman Province do not have access to drinking water and another 500 villages suffer from water stress, the managing director of Kerman Water and Wastewater Company said.
“Projects are underway to supply water to 669 villages at a cost of $23 million and over 1,500 kilometers of pipelines should be laid as part of the project,” he added.
More than 90% of Kerman's water are tapped for agriculture and nearly 4% of the province's water are used by households. There are more than 30,000 agricultural wells in the province and only 900 wells supply drinking water.
The construction of Kerman water treatment plant has made 70% progress and is expected to become operational in the fall. The facility will have a capacity of processing 3,000 liters per second.
The water transfer project from Nesa Dam to the rural areas of Bam and Baravat has also progressed by 55%.
The initiative, aimed at supplying village dwellers in the region with quality piped water, is expected to come on stream by December.
Close to 60 km of pipeline have been laid and operations to build a pumping station and a water treatment facility are underway.
About $20 million have been spent so far and $50 million are needed to complete the plan on time.
The same pipeline will be used to transfer piped water to other rural districts in Narmashir, Rigan and Fahroj counties.
“We don't have any other source of drinking water, except groundwater resources, so we have to dig wells,” Abdian said.
However, considering the depletion of groundwater resources, other plans are underway to supply sustainable water to the province.
Referring to the long-term plans, the official said water for the northern cities of Kerman Province will be supplied from the Persian Gulf and water for cities in the southern parts will be supplied from the Sea of Oman.
Although water transfer from the Persian Gulf to Sirjan in Kerman Province has eased the water crisis in industries like Golgohar Mining and Industrial Complex, other parts of the region are still suffering from a chronic shortage.
