An official has dismissed reports that wastewater from Kish Island has been seeping into the Persian Gulf and sought to clarify “the misunderstanding”. Head of Kish Island’s Department of Environment, Maryam Mohammadi, told IRNA on Saturday concerned citizens have mistaken water discharge from pipes that run along portions of a beach on the island as wastewater. “The liquid flowing from the pipes is actually excess water from desalination plants,” she said, adding that the island has strict procedures to collect and treat wastewater. The official noted that most areas of the island are connected to a sewerage network that transports wastewater to treatment facilities where it is treated as per standards and used for irrigating green spaces. “Buildings not connected to the network are instead equipped with septic tanks. Once full, the septic tanks are emptied into tankers that take the sewage to treatment plants,” she said. Mohammadi warned that the increasing number of unauthorized desalination facilities could take a toll on the environment since they are not monitored.
