The executive operation of the project to supply water from Dez Dam to the cities of Abadan and Khorramshahr in Khuzestan Province will be completed by the end of August, managing director of Khuzestan Water and Wastewater Company said.
“The project is in the final stages and upon its launch, the quality of drinking water in Abadan and Khorramshahr will improve,” Mohammad Reza Karaminejad was also quoted as saying by ISNA.
“Currently, more than 80% of the water needed in Abadan and Khorramshahr are supplied by Ghadir Water Supply Project. The rest is supplied by the Bahmanshir River and Mard Dam. With the completion of the project, we hope to see an improvement in the quality of water in the cities of Abadan and Khorramshahr, because Dez Dam water is of high quality,” he added.
The third phase of Ghadir Water Supply Project is underway in Khuzestan Province.
The project will supply stable and good quality water to over half of the 4.7-million population of the southwestern province through pipelines extending over 880 kilometers,
With a capacity of 24 cubic meters per second, the pipeline will transfer clean water from Dez River to 52% of Khuzestan population. It is expected to be completed by the end of summer.
Located in Khuzestan Province, Dez River is a tributary of Karun River and extends over 400 km.
The first phase of Ghadir project was inaugurated in 2000 to alleviate the water problem, curb pollution of freshwater resources and reduce salt content in the water networks supplying Abadan, Andimeshk, Dezful, Khorramshahr, Ahvaz, Shadegan, Shoush and Susangard, as well as rural areas.
The second phase of the project was launched in Abadan 2018. Completed at a cost of $38 million, it provided water from Karkheh River to Ghadir Water Treatment Plant and onward to Samen Water Treatment Plant and finally to about 75 villages in Abadan County.
The project added 20,000 cubic meters of potable water per day to the water available in rural regions. With the help of the project, an estimated 55,000 people in the rural areas of the southwestern Khuzestan Province were provided with the new source of freshwater.
The major project featured pumping stations, storage tanks, pipelines and treatment plants.
Desalination Plant
A desalination plant was launched in Abadan in February to help address the pressing water problems of the southwestern oil city.
The unit, with a capacity of 3,000 cubic meters of potable water per day, helps meet water demand in Chavibdeh, a city in Shalahi rural district in Abadan County.
This is while Persian Gulf states’ demand for desalinated water has increased by 9-11% in recent years, according to Frost & Sullivan, a business consulting firm involved in market research and analysis.
Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the UAE, Qatar and Bahrain meet a large part of their need for drinking water from the strategic Persian Gulf waterway.
Two decades of drought has had dire consequences on Iran’s water resources.
To tackle the worsening water crisis, desalination is becoming a viable option in most countries to produce water from the sea. In the coastal regions where saltwater is in abundance, large and semi-large desalination plants are preferable.
Water desalination plants provide significant volumes of potable water in the northern and southern regions of Iran.
Tapping into the sea to produce clean water is on the Energy Ministry’s agenda, as it is seen as a viable source for ensuring a sustainable supply rather than depleting the rapidly dwindling underground tables.
