Construction of nine wastewater treatment plants will commence in south and east of Tehran Province from March, said the managing director of Tehran Province Water and Wastewater Company.
Speaking at a meeting Wednesday, Mohammadreza Bakhtiari said that the project, including expansion of network of pipes, requires $564 million in investment and is expected to be completed in five years, the Energy Ministry news portal Paven reported.
In recent years, pipe-laying operations have been carried out in different districts of Tehran to connect households as well as business and industrial sectors to the wastewater network.
The nine counties surrounding Tehran include Qarchak, Varamin, Pakdasht, Qods, Rudehen, Baharestan, Rudbar-e Qasran, Damavand and Firuzkuh.
Laying sewer pipes has started and 12% work-in-progress progress has been reported.
“For a sustainable future, it is necessary to seal the wells water from which is used for farming in rural areas and let the agro sector use wastewater instead,” he asserted.
According to published reports, the agriculture sector alone consumes more than 90% of the scarce water resources due to outdated farming practices and equipment.
Referring to the expansion of the sewage system in Tehran, he said, “Of the 9,000km network designed for the capital, 6,700 km are in place.”
Five dams, namely Amirkabir and Taleqan (in the west) as well as Latian, Lar and Mamlou (in the east) supply Tehran with potable water.
The dams provide 70% of the water needs of the permanently expanding capital and the remaining 30% comes from underground resources that are said to be depleting fast.
Tehran has six wastewater treatment plants providing the city with utility needs that never seem to end.
TPWWC is building two new treatment plants in the sprawling capital that should come on stream by May.
The water recycled at the seventh treatment plant, near Mamlu Dam, will be allocated for agriculture and industrial purposes in the south and southeast.
A part of the water from Mamlu Dam goes to the southeastern regions including Varamin, Pakdasht and Qiamdasht, and to the southern districts from Afsariyeh to Yaft Abad.
According to long-term development programs, Tehran wastewater network should be completed by 2023. Upon completion, 250 million cubic meters of recycled water will be added to Tehran's water reserves per annum to be used in agricultural farms and industrial facilities, which will help lessen the water stress.
“Tehran’s water reserves are near 1.06 billion cubic meters, 70% of which comes from surface waters and 30% groundwater,” Bakhtiari noted.
Precipitation in Tehran was 256 millimeters in the last water year (Sept 2017-18), a 21% decline compared to the year before. Per capita water consumption is over and above the world average.
Given years of dwindling rainfall and rising consumption, authorities and independent experts have called for greater attention to collecting, treating and recycling water.
Expansion of wastewater network has been a priority in recent decades, but lack of funds plus rapid expansion of urban areas has slowed the process.
