The desalination unit of Shahid Salimi (Neka) Power Plant in Mazandaran Province was launched on Tuesday to help reduce the use of depleting groundwater resources.
Constructed by domestic engineers and water experts, the facility has a capacity to produce 6 million liters of water per day from Caspian Sea, the Energy Ministry’s news portal Paven reported.
Located 25 km north of Neka City, the 2,700-megawatt thermal plant is one of the largest in Iran. It has a steam unit, four steam turbines, a combined-cycle power facility and a gas unit. The plant started work in the early 1980s.
Before the desalination unit became operational, at least 5 million liters of water were extracted from three deep wells per day to cool the turbines of the plant. Now the wells are sealed and Caspian Sea water is desalinated for cooling purposes.
As per an Energy Ministry directive issued in 2019, it is mandatory for all thermal power plants across the country to use either reclaimed wastewater or desalinated water [instead of underground resources] for cooling the towers.
Water is being pumped from underground tables much faster than it can be naturally replenished. Underground resources are key to meeting demand for potable water and farming, but rising demand is endangering aquifers.
Constructing a desalination unit is economically feasible for power stations located in the vicinity of Caspian Sea. However, for the power plants in other regions, building wastewater treatment plants is more plausible.
Water Crisis
Curbing water consumption is an undeniable compulsion, more so because for decades Iran has been in the grip of a major water crisis that has been worsened as the population grows, demand rises and precipitation declines.
Iran’s annual water consumption is 100 billion cubic meters.
The World Resources Institute has listed 17 countries suffering from “Extremely High Baseline Water Stress”. In the ranking of the most water stressed countries, Iran is in the top four after Qatar, Israel and Lebanon.
According to the water officials of Mazandaran, about 180 million cubic meters of water are extracted from aquifers via 2,500 unauthorized wells in the northern province.
Renewable water resources in the region stand at about 6 billion cubic meters, of which 4.5 bcm are surface water and the rest underground sources.
Mazandaran is located along the southern coast of Caspian Sea and adjacent to the central Alborz Mountain range. It is a major producer of farmed fish and aquaculture is an important contributor to the local economy.
Over 70 kinds of agricultural products are grown in Mazandaran. It meets 40% of the national demand for rice and 50% of citrus fruits. The province is the sole domestic kiwi supplier.
There are 230,000 hectares of paddy fields in the lush province, producing 1 million tons of rice per annum or 42% of the total consumption. Iranians consume 3.5 million tons of rice a year while domestic production is 2.9 million tons, hence the rest is imported.
