“The unit, with a capacity to produce 10,000 cubic meters of potable water per day, will be built in Gomishan County and cost of €10 million,” Paven, the Energy Ministry news portal, quoted Behzad Hormozi as saying Wednesday.
The official made the announcement while touring Qeshm desalination units built by Iran's top engineering and energy company MAPNA.
In 2014, MAPNA invested €33 million in its first desalination unit with a capacity to produce 18,000 cubic meters of potable water per day in Qeshm Island in the Persian Gulf, according to Financial Tribune.
“The project will help supply drinking water to the deprived rural areas where supplying piped water is not economically viable,” he said, noting that the region is grappling with water scarcity in the hot seasons due to the decline in water discharge rates of wells.
The first water desalination plant, with a daily capacity of treating 10,000 cubic meters of saltwater, was launched in Bandar Torkaman in the west of the province in August.
“Private companies invested 300 billion rials [€2 million] in this venture, which has alleviated water shortage in Bandar Torkaman and Gomishan to some extent. But the region needs more units.”
Two decades of drought is taking a toll on Iran’s fast- depleting water resources.
To tackle the crisis, desalination is becoming a viable option in most countries to produce water from the sea. In the coastal regions where salt water is in abundance, large and semi-large desalination plants are preferred.
Water desalination plants provide significant volumes of potable water in the northern and southern regions in Iran.
Tapping into the sea to produce clean water is on the Energy Ministry agenda as it is seen as viable for sustainable supplies rather than depleting the dwindling underground tables, most of which are on the verge of drying up.