The 230-kilovolt double-circuit Seimare-Abdanan-Dehloran transmission line in western Ilam Province was launched Thursday in the presence of the Energy Minister Reza Ardakanian.
Built over 113km, the project cost $60 million. It links Seimare power plant output to the national grid and supplies electricity to regions in south of Ilam and northwest of Khuzestan Province, IRNA reported.
Seimare hydropower plant and dam is located on the Seimare River, 37km from the city of Dareh Shahr, the Kurdish city bordering Iraq.
An arch dam, its primary purpose is hydroelectric power generation. The fourth largest dam in the country, it is a 180m tall variable-radius arch type with a crest length of 202m. It can hold 3.2 billion cubic meters of water, but currently hardly half of the dam is full due to years of low precipitation and hot summers.
The concrete powerhouse structure has an annual energy generation capacity of 850 gigawatt hours.
In his one-day visit to the region, Ardakanian also inaugurated a wastewater treatment plant in Eyvan County.
“With the launch of the plant, over 60% of the population in the province is connected to the wastewater network,” he said, adding that sewage systems can help provide water for agriculture and industrial use.
As the country grapples with a worsening water crisis, wastewater can be recycled and reused. Modern technology to treat wastewater should be made available mainly in the arid and semi-arid regions, he said. “Forty wastewater treatment plants will become operational in February 2019.”
Average precipitation rate has fallen to levels way below the global average while underground water tables are drying up due to overuse. Years of dwindling rainfall together with rising consumption has pushed authorities and experts to call for greater attention to collecting, treating and recycling water.
Statistics show that the agriculture sector alone consumes more than 90% of the scarce water resources due to outdated farming practices and equipment.
Expansion of wastewater networks has been a priority of the Energy Ministry in recent decades, but lack of funds plus rapid expansion of urban areas has slowed down the process.
