An ambitious project to supply water from the Persian Gulf to Hormozgan, Kerman and Yazd provinces suffering from chronic shortages is halfway through and the installation of the first pipeline of the project will be complete by 2021, says a lawmaker from Yazd.
According to Abolfazl Mousavi, the project is an undertaking of the private sector and consists of three pipelines, ISNA reported.
The venture was launched five years ago and water from the southern waterway will be used by households and industries.
Upon completion of the first phase, 150 million cubic meters of seawater will be sent to the water-stressed regions annually. The second and third pipelines will add another 150 mcm to the three provinces.
A consortium of nine Iranian banks has invested $428 million in the project and desalination facilities have been set up in Hormozgan, Kerman and Yazd provinces.
Implementing the project, however, will not fully address the water crises in the regions but can help provide more water for urban and industrial use, Mousavi said.
The official noted that although experts consider water transfer schemes to be environmentally hazardous and destructive, using water from Persian Gulf is the last resort as the country grapples with the unending water crisis.
“The three provinces have no access to underground water resources and suffer from low precipitation. The must be provided with water through sustainable sources ,” he added.
The Department of Environment has approved the project provided that it supervises the entire process to avoid possible detrimental effects.
Iran is facing perpetual drought for many years. Located in an arid and semi-arid area, the country is facing huge water deficits due to low precipitation and climate change coupled with waste and mismanagement. Overconsumption and systemic depletion of underground resources for farming have created a rather dangerous situation with increasing number of experts warning that large parts of the country will become parched and empty of people if a workable solution is not found.
Annual precipitation is only a third of the global average. Average rainfall is around 750 millimeters in the world, while Iran's average precipitation has fallen to 205 mm in the past 15 years, down from 250 mm before a long and hard drought cast a shadow over the country.
The country uses 90% of its renewable water resources, while the global average is 40%. Officials say the amount of water drawn from groundwater tables must be reduced from 55 billion cubic meters to 26.5 bcm a year to avoid a catastrophe.
