Construction of Khorramrud Dam in Tuyserkan County, Hamedan Province, has made 40% physical progress, the managing director of Hamedan Regional Water Company said.
“Built on a namesake river, Khorramrud Dam is an undertaking of the private sector and is estimated to cost $20 million,” IRNA quoted Mansour Sotoudeh as saying. It is expected to be ready by next spring.
“With a capacity to store approximately eight million cubic meters, the dam will supply drinking water to 40 villages and also be used in agriculture and industries,” Sotoudeh said.
Tuyserkan is located about 100 km south of Hamadan, in western Iran. It is well known for its high quality walnut.
Walnut is the main export of the county. Other agricultural products include wheat, barley, potatoes, apples, plums, peaches, and pears among others.
There are plenty of quarries in the county where minerals are excavated including granite, gypsum, marble, and limestone.
Four dams have been built in western Hamedan Province in the past eight years that have boosted storage capacity to 126 million cubic meters.
Nematabad Dam, with a capacity of 4.6 mcm, was the last and opened last August. Built on Shahab River in Asadabad County, this dam provides water to 450 hectares of farmlands.
On the water levels in dams, Sotoudeh said Ekbatan Dam is only half full.
With total capacity of 36 mcm, the dam supplies 35% of potable water demand of Hamedan City plus the needs of almost 800 hectares of farmlands.
Hamedan is one of the regions exposed to drought in the past 15 years. It is Iran’s fifth grape producer after Fars, Qazvin, Khorasan Razavi and West Azarbaijan.
Construction of dams and wastewater treatment plants apparently is they only way to augment the fertile region's water resources for farming.
Iran has a disproportionate spatial distribution of rainfall, a major part of the rain (usually) falls in a short period and in specific regions. Reservoirs help collect the rainwater to be used during the rest of the year.
Due to shortage of surface water, farmers in the province normally use groundwater from illegal deep wells. The government has started sealing unauthorized wells to conserve the rapidly depleting resource and discourage the harmful practice of digging and using illegal wells.
Conservation
To help cut water at the Shahid Mofateh Power Plant in Hamedan, its second dry cooling tower will be launched in summer. When operational, the second tower will help cut 75% of the annual water consumption.
The main purpose of industrial cooling towers is to remove the heat absorbed in the circulating cooling water systems in power plants, petroleum refineries, petrochemical plants and natural gas processing plants.
The Hamedan utility uses treated wastewater for cooling and has ended use of the fast diminishing groundwater resources.
Hamedan Wastewater Treatment Plant has a capacity of 650 liters per second and the recycled water is piped to Shahid Mofateh Thermal Power Plant and farms.
Recycled wastewater accounts for nearly 85% of water used in the power station for cooling. Using treated sewage has prevented creation of sinkholes in the plains and helped curb desertification.
Replacing groundwater with treated wastewater has resulted in the sealing of 25 wells around Hamedan City. As per an Energy Ministry directive, it is mandatory for thermal power plants to use reclaimed wastewater (instead of potable water) for their cooling towers.
