Water Paucity Taking Toll on Development Projects

Petrochemical, fertilizer and refinery projects with annual capacity to manufacture 5 million tons are facing rough times and some have been put on hold as the water problems worsen.
According to Energy Newcomes, a domestic privately-owned media group, water scarcity is one of serious challenges Tehran faces as it seeks to skirt US economic sanctions by boosting output of petroleum byproducts that are more difficult to track than crude that has identifiable characteristics.
Referring to plans to build a petrochemical plant near  Firouzabad Country in (parched) Fars Province, Hamidreza Soleymannejad, one of the plant’s project managers was quoted by the media as saying that it has everything needed to start work (authorization from the Oil Ministry and National Petrochemical Company as well as funds), but has barely registered 10% progress after 10 years.