A scheme to control dust storms in Tehran Province has received the green light from the Workgroup to Reduce Tehran's Air Pollution with three projects given top priority.
The government passed a law in July 2017 to combat the scourge of dust storms across the country, based on which offices were to be set up in each province to oversee short- and long-term plans for the purpose and coordinate the executive bodies involved.
Tehran's headquarters was formed within the framework of Workgroup to Reduce Tehran's Air Pollution. "It, then, held sessions with relevant organizations during which 50 projects were devised and assigned to 15 executive organizations," Mehrdad Katal-Mohseni, technical deputy at Tehran's office of the Department of Environment, told ISNA.
With the working group's go-ahead, the plan will get underway soon starting with three projects that were agreed to be implemented ahead of others. The top priority is to develop and equip stations that monitor the concentration of sand and dust particles as well as those that observe atmospheric conditions, according to the official.
"Once the stations are upgraded, a network could be built up to gather data on dust concentrations in Tehran's air regularly and provide a report to different organizations and the public after their analysis," he said.
The DOE and Iran Meteorological Organization are in charge of developing stations for monitoring dust and atmospheric conditions respectively.
Next Steps
The next key project will focus on identifying and controlling hotspots and preventing the formation of new sources.
"Biological methods could be used for this purpose, that is compatible plant species will be picked out and planted, especially in regions that have already become sources of the phenomenon," Katal Mohseni said.
The provincial office of the Forests, Range and Watershed Management Organization is tasked to carry out tree planting. The National Iranian Oil Company will also carry out mulching.
The third core component involves raising awareness and encouraging public participation, "for projects are not expected to make headway without people's cooperation," he said.
Katal-Mohseni assured that the plans will not overlap those of the DOE's national working group on the issue.
"The funds required for the projects will be chiefly supplied from provincial resources since national budgets allocated for dust storms are mostly directed to the priority province of Khuzestan, the country's primary victim of the natural incident," he explained.
No time frame has been determined for the scheme because "the problem has been gravely exacerbated by drought and cannot be addressed in the short run."
Entities including the DOE, National Iranian Oil Company, FRWMO, Tehran Air Quality Control Company, Regional Water Authority and the Meteorological Organization are cooperating in the implementation of the 50 projects.
