Safe Water for 800+ Towns in Gilan

An estimated 151,000 households in 818 small towns and villages on the outskirts of urban and rural areas in  northern Gilan Province have been supplied with piped water since 2001, managing director of the provincial Water and Wastewater Company said.
"Implementation of water projects in the region has so far cost $23 million," Mohebali Ranjvar was quoted as saying by Paven, the Energy Ministry's news portal.
He said 6,000 kilometers of high-pressure water pipelines have been laid so far. Moreover, 45 deep wells have been dug and 60,000 water storage tanks have been built in Shaft, Amlash, Fouman, Lahijan, Masal, Astara and Langeroud counties.
Some 182 villages or 22,000 households are expected to be provided with potable water by the yearend in March  for which 12 water supply units construction costing  $15 million.
Access to drinking water is a major concern throughout the world. Health risks arise from consumption of water contaminated with pollutants or harmful chemicals that can transmit diseases such as diarrhea, cholera, dysentery, typhoid and polio.
Iran’s total urban population has access to piped water as do 75% of rural residents -- the latter figure is planned to reach 81% by 2021.
In 2015, close to 91% of the world’s population had access to an improved drinking- ater source, compared with 76% in 1990. Since 1990, 2.6 billion people have access to potable water and 4.2 billion people buy water through a metered connection.
An estimated 2.4 billion people access water through other improved sources including public taps, protected wells and boreholes, according to the World Health Organization.
But globally, at least 1.8 billion people use a drinking-water source with fecal contamination.