The plant will treat 520,000 cubic meters of sewage a day (192 mcm per annum) and raise yearly water reclamation capacity in Tehran by nearly 76%, IRNA reported.
There is only one wastewater treatment facility in the capital (the South Wastewater Treatment Plant) that treats 250 million cubic meters of effluent a year. With the second facility output will rise to 442 mcm/y.
Built over 60 hectares in Eslamshahr County in southwest Tehran, the plant was built by the Tehran Regional Water Company and will treat wastewater produced by 2.1 million people in 12 districts in the metropolis that has expanded in all four directions in the past half century. With 12 million people, the capital has 22 municipal districts.
The processed effluent is used for farming and industries in the southern areas. Regarding the South Wastewater Treatment Plant in the ancient city of Rey, IRNA said the facility covers 3.15 million people and treats 250 million cubic meters of wastewater per annum.
Given years of dwindling rainfall and rising consumption, conservationists and experts have called for more attention to collecting, treating and recycling water.
Expansion of wastewater networks has become a priority in recent decades, but lack of funding plus rapid urban expansion has slowed the process.
“Expanding wastewater treatment in Tehran is high on the TPWWC agenda.” head of the provincial Water and Wastewater Company, Mohammad Reza Bakhtiari, said, and added that pipe-laying operations have been completed in most districts.
According to long-term economic development plans, Tehran wastewater network should be completed by 2023.