Almost 24% of Tehran's water network is over 40 years old while the useful life of water pipelines is an average 25 years, managing director of the National Water and Wastewater Engineering Company of Iran (Abfa) said.
Wear and tear of pipelines in Tehran results in 13% of waste in the transmission network, Mehr News Agency quoted Hamidreza Janbaz as saying.
“We are struggling to reduce the water loss in the network but cutting it to below 10% costs a lot,” Janbaz said. The national water network in Tehran Province stretches over 10,000 kilometers of which about 2,500 km is decrepit and needs to be replaced.
However, due to financial constraints Abfa has been unable to repair and replace the ageing infrastructure in one go. The company can only lay 300 km of new pipelines a year, which means rehabilitating the entire dilapidated network will take more than a decade.
One major hurdle to infrastructure development is the gap between what consumers pay and the final cost of water treatment and supply, Janbaz recalled.
Treating and supplying one cubic meter of water in the sprawling capital cost 10 cents, but subscribers pay less than 3 cents as water is heavily in Iran.
Regarding water consumption, the official said: “Per capita water consumption in the domestic sector is 170 liters per person per day. In most developed countries with more rainfall and better access to water resources it is about 120 liters per person per day.”
Despite persistent appeals from Abfa, water use in the ever-expanding capital and other big cities has reached prohibitive levels while experts warn that the pattern is unsustainable and a serious cause for concern.
“In general, 60% of the subscribers consume water within acceptable levels and the rest are among heavy consumers,” Janbaz said.
Daily water consumption in Tehran is over 3.5 million cubic meters. Annual consumption growth was near 4% between 2010 and 2019 as the population increased. However, growth reached 11% in 2020.
Tehran accounts for less than 1.1% of the country’s land area, but accounts for 20% of the population and 45% of the industrial base. Rising water consumption, waste and haphazard urban planning continues to take a toll on the shrinking resources while appeals for judicious consumption has fallen on deaf ears.
More than three billion liters of water (3 million cubic meters) is consumed in the capital every day or 1.1 billion cubic meters per annum. Of the total daily demand 30% comes from the rapidly depleting underground sources.
Sealing illegal wells is another measure taken by the Abfa to help decrease overconsumption.
According to Abfa chief, due to the steep decline in groundwater levels, it is crucial to stop violations in water use in the metropolis. In the past two years, more than 2,700 illegal wells were closed.
The number of unauthorized wells in the area is estimated at 50,000. Wells in and around Tehran are in bad condition with systemic water decline and experts have warned that the situation will not improve with good rainfall in one or two years. They rightly insist that the solution lies in curbing consumption and waste – two key issues that have contributed terribly to the worsening water crisis in the dry and arid country of 83 million people.
Five dams, namely Amirkabir and Taleqan (in the west) as well as Latian, Lar and Mamlou (in the east) supply 70% of Tehran’s water.
