Babolsar County in Mazandaran Province will receive water from Alborz Dam, also known as Lafour Dam, by the end of August, managing director of the provincial regional water company said.
Water from Alborz Dam now enters a major water treatment plant in Babol County, the first phase of which was launched last month with a capacity of 1,000 liters per second, and with the completion of the pipe-laying project, Babolsar will also be linked to the treatment unit, IRNA reported Ebrahim Yakhkeshi as saying.
“Close to $17 million have been spent on the construction of the first phase of the water treatment plant and installation of 70 kilometers of water transmission lines,” he said, adding that about $20 million of investment are needed to complete the second phase of the treatment unit and lay 20 kilometers of pipelines to transfer water to Fereydounkenar.
Yakhkeshi noted that the project to lay 1,000- and 1,200- mm pipes to Fereydounkenar has already started.
“When fully operational, the water treatment plant will supply healthy and safe drinking water [1,500 liters per second] to the cities of Babol, Babolsar and Fereydounkenar, as well as 57 villages located along the pipeline route, covering a total of 600,000 people,” he added.
Besides the water treatment facility and pipelines, the project will also build several pumping stations.
Alborz Dam is built on Lafour Lake in Savadkouh County, 45 km southeast of Babol. The dam is located near a beautiful forest and a village of the same name.
With a capacity to hold 150 million cubic meters of water, the dam also provides water required for 54,000 hectares of agricultural lands in Babol, Babolsar, Qaemshahr and Juybar counties.
Over 70 kinds of agricultural produce are grown in Mazandaran, which meets 40% of domestic demand for rice and 50% of citrus fruits.
The province is also the sole domestic supplier of kiwi.
