“The projects include Green and Khorramroud dams as well as Sarabi and Kalan water treatment plants, which are in different stages of construction. Water supply projects to Hamedan are also underway,” Mansour Sotoudeh was also reported as saying by the Energy Ministry’s news portal Paven.
“Three banks, Keshavarzi, Saderat and Tejarat, have invested $11 million in the construction of Green Dam in Nahavand County,” he added.
With a capacity of 10 million cubic meters of water, Green Dam is one of the most important and vital projects in Nahavand, which will have a great impact on supplying water to the county for agriculture and drinking purposes.
Elaborating on Khorramroud Dam, Sotoudeh said, “Over $3.5 million have been spent so far on the construction of the dam in Tuyserkan by the private sector.”
Built on a namesake river and estimated to cost $20 million, Khorramroud Dam is almost halfway through and will be completed next year.
Having a capacity of approximately 8 million cubic meters, the dam will supply drinking water to 40 villages, farms and industries.
Water Treatment Plants
According to Sotoudeh, two water treatment plants are under construction in Malayer and Tuyserkan counties.
“About $1.5 million have been invested in the construction of the treatment plant and pumping station in Malayer County,” he added.
The plant is expected to start operating in February to provide water to the western county from Kalan Dam.
“Twenty-seven wells supply water to Malayer,” the official said, adding that the new facility will supply 12 million cubic meters of drinking water from the dam to 330,000 people.
Kalan Dam can hold 45 million cubic meters of water. Built on Haram-Abad River, the dam is the largest in western Hamedan Province.
The plant is designed to meet the needs of Malayer, nearby villages, farms and Sahand Industrial Town. Moreover, 5.5 mcm will go for preserving the environment. It will treat 380 liters of water per second and cost $8 million. Water will be transferred via a 38-km pipeline from Kalan Dam to Malayer.
“Close to $1 million have been invested in the construction of the water treatment plant in Tuyserkan,” Sotoudeh was quoted as saying by Paven.
Carried out by the private sector, the water supply project to Tuyserkan from Sarabi Dam is in its final stages.
Tuyserkan is located about 100 km south of Hamedan in western Iran. It is well known for its main export commodity walnut. Other agricultural products include wheat, barley, potatoes, apples, plums, peaches and pears.
Hamedan is Iran’s fifth grape producer after Fars, Qazvin, Khorasan Razavi and West Azarbaijan.
Due to a chronic shortage of surface water, farmers in the province resort to groundwater from illegally-dug deep wells. The government has started sealing unauthorized wells to conserve the rapidly depleting resource and discourage the harmful practice of digging and using illegal wells.
The construction of dams and wastewater treatment plants is aimed at conserving the fertile region's water resources for farming.
Iran has a disproportionate spatial distribution of rainfall, as a major portion of the rain usually falls in a short period and in certain regions. Reservoirs help collect the rainwater to be used during the rest of the year.