A new desalination plant is expected to be launched in Chabahar, Sistan-Baluchestan Province, in the near future to help address the pressing water problems of the southeastern county, managing director of the provincial Water and Wastewater Company said.
"The Chabahar-Konarak facility, being built by the private sector, will process 25,000 cubic meters of seawater on a daily basis," Alireza Qasemi was also quoted as saying by the Energy Ministry’s news portal Paven.
Much-needed equipment has been purchased and pipe-laying plans to transfer seawater to the plant are complete, he added, noting that the first phase of the initiative will go on stream in summer.
Sistan-Baluchestan is the second largest province of Iran, bordering Afghanistan and Pakistan. The region has been struggling with water crises for more than two decades.
In recent years, groundwater is extracted from aquifers faster than the recharge rate because of extremely low rainfall (105 mm a year on average), rapid urban development and high population growth rate.
Qasemi noted that as the water crisis worsens and groundwater resources dry up, using unconventional water resources, namely saline water, has become inevitable.
“Last year, more than 100,000 residents in 320 villages of Sistan-Baluchestan were supplied with piped water,” he added.
Almost half the population of the underdeveloped region live in rural areas and 250,000 people get drinking water via tankers.
According to the provincial authorities, if water infrastructure does not improve drought, joblessness plus the deteriorating economic conditions will force half a million people to migrate in search of work and a decent livelihood.
Meager Share
Despite the fact that 76 plants are functioning in different parts of Iran, desalinated water comprises a meager 0.1% of the total annual water consumption while in some neighboring countries like Saudi Arabia, it is 70%.
Iran's annual water consumption is about 100 billion cubic meters, of which less than 100 million cubic meters are produced by desalination plants in coastal regions, namely Khuzestan, Sistan-Baluchestan, Hormozgan and Bushehr.
Approximately 142 million cubic meters of seawater are desalinated daily throughout the globe. However, Iran's share is as little as 407,000 cubic meters per day.
According to Shahin Pakrouh, deputy chief engineer at the National Water and Wastewater Engineering Company of Iran, dependence on rainwater and river runoff in drought-stricken regions can no longer meet mounting demand.
That is why unconventional water resources, such as reclaimed and desalinated water, have emerged as effective solutions for the sustainable and long-term management of drinking water in parched regions like Hormozgan and Bushehr.
Unconventional water resources are generated as a byproduct of specialized processes such as desalination for irrigation.
The significance of water reuse, as a solution to Iran’s worsening water problems, has increased in recent years.
Many regions, namely Isfahan, Hormozgan and Semnan, have already started to reuse water either with the help of wastewater facilities, or large-scale desalination.
