“With a capacity to treat 100,000 cubic meters per day, the plant covers a population of 600,000 people,” Allahbaksh Nazarpour was quoted as saying by the Energy Ministry news portal Paven.
So far, $45 million has been spent on the environmental-friendly project.
Come 2020, one million households in Shiraz will be linked to the wastewater network and their sewage will be processed by the new plant as well as Vazirabad Wastewater Treatment Plant, according to Financial Tribune.
There are 2,300 kilometers of wastewater networks in the southern tourist city home to the world famous Persepolis ruins, and laying 1,200 km of new pipelines are underway in the provincial capital.
The Wastewater Treatment Plant Number 2 has been built employing the state of the art techniques and is capable of producing about 70% of its electricity needs. Its output can be used for irrigating urban green spaces and farms and producing greenhouse products.
Processing wastewater has become fundamental to the development of industrial and agriculture sectors. One cubic meter of polluted water contaminates 40 cubic meters of clean water, which explains why collecting wastewater is key to protecting the environment.
A total of 220 wastewater treatment plants are currently operational across Iran and total sewage treatment capacity is 11 million cubic meters per day.
Approximately 7.5 billion cubic meters of usable water are produced annually, of which 4.3 bcm is wasted.
If wastewater is not properly treated it can have dire consequences on the environment and human health.
Besides contaminating drinking water, it can harm to marine and wildlife habitats, oxygen depletion and restrictions on recreational water use as well as on fish harvesting.