"Thirty water supply units are being completed and will provide potable water to 388 rural regions in the province," Mohammad Fatehi was quoted as saying by the Energy Ministry news portal.
Of the total 1,184 villages in the province, 330 regions or 82,000 rural people are being supplied drinking water via tankers, he said, adding that piped water is limited and thus rationed in 600 villages in the province that is among hottest and driest regions in Iran with summer temperatures unusually above 40 degrees centigrade.
He noted that once the 30 projects are completed, 142,000 people in 388 rural areas will have access to piped water. Currently, water is supplied to these regions from 296 wells and 44 qanats, according to Financial Tribune.
"Seven water supply complexes have become operational so far and three water storage units have been built in Saduq, Mehriz and Abarkouh counties."
Yazd rural water supply network has expanded and close to 72,000 residents in 135 small towns were provided piped water in the past six months.
Yazd Province has a population of 1.13 million, 15% of which live in rural areas. It is one of Iran's known centers for textiles and factories making ceramics and construction material.
Close to 75% of rural inhabitants in Iran have access to piped water -- the figure is expected to reach 81% by 2021.
In related news, the Energy Ministry said a 10,000-cubic meter water storage reservoir will become operational in Gonabad County in Khorasan Razavi Province.
There are 650 qanats in the county mostly used for farming.
"Gonabad, with a population of 50,000, has an extended water supply line that has recently extended by 130 kilometers. Any disruption can impact water supply to the residents, and that is why the project was completed in less than a month," Hamed Qorbani, the county's governor said.
Qanat is the generic term for an ancient environmentally-sustainable water harvesting and conveyance technique to have originated in Persia in the early first millennium B.C.
The qanat system consists of a network of underground canals that transport water from aquifers in highlands to the surface at lower levels by gravity.