A memorandum of understanding has been signed for several water supply projects whereby Bank Sepah will procure the funds needed to purchase steel pipelines.
Energy Minister Hamid Chitchian, Vice President and Head of Management and Planning Organization Mohammad Baqer Nobakht and Managing Director of Bank Sepah Kamel Taqavi-Nejad attended the ceremony in which the MoU was signed, IRNA reported.
The project, with a budget outlay of 6,527 billion rials ($195.8 million), will cover eight million people in Fars, Hamedan, Kermanshah, Markazi, East Azarbaijan, Kerman, Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari, Kohgilouyeh-Boyerahmad and Ilam provinces.
Water will be supplied to Shiraz, Arsanjan and Sa'adat-Shahr from Sivand Dam in Fars Province, Jahrom from Qir Dam, Estahban and Fasa from Roudbal Dam, Hamedan from Tavar Dam and Kermanshah from Gavoshan Dam.
Iran’s water problem has been brewing for years. In a country that only gets about one third of the world’s average rainfall and most of it on just 25% of its surface, balancing supply and demand is a challenging task.
With a population that has nearly doubled over the past 20 years, millions have poured into cities, forcing water management authorities to exponentially ramp up both their storage and delivery capabilities to redistribute huge amounts of water from local sources to urban centers, where over 70% of the total population reside.
Pipeline infrastructure connecting dam waters to urban areas is rapidly growing. However, development of water storage and transport networks has been largely implemented without foreign investment, technology or expertise, resulting in as much as 30% water loss from the dilapidated pipeline infrastructure.
