Persian Gulf Water to be Supplied to Provinces in Central Iran

Iran has launched a major project to transfer desalinated water from the Persian Gulf to three provinces in its arid central regions. The project was launched on Thursday during a tour by Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi of the province of Yazd, which along with Isfahan and Kerman would be the three provinces to receive the supply of water from desalination plants in Sirik, located on the easternmost mouth of the Persian Gulf. Raisi’s website said in a report that the project would include a 730-kilometer pipeline for transferring up to 200 million cubic meters per year of desalinated water to Yazd, Kerman and Isfahan. The project will expand a first line that is already supplying some 130 mcm per year of water from the Persian Gulf mostly to industries and mines in Kerman and Yazd provinces, said the report, adding that the project will take 48 months to complete.

Iran’s Energy Minister Ali Akbar Mehrabian said the project would help ease water shortage issues in two provinces of Yazd and Kerman which are home to vast deserts. Mehrabian said the number of desalination plants in the country would also increase by six times in the next four years, adding that one such plant on the Persian Gulf coast is expected to come on line next month in a ceremony that will be attended by President Raisi. - Press TV