Tehran, Iran, Feb.2
Trend:
Iran is reviewing the plan to transfer Caspian Sea water to Tehran Province as a solution for the water shortage, Managing Director of Regional Water Company of Tehran Hossein Razavi said, Trend reports citing ISNA.
"The plan to transfer water from Caspian Sea to Tehran Province is currently being reviewed and after studying all aspects of the plan, it can be discussed,” he said.
Razavi noted that water from Caspian Sea would be transferred to Semnan Province and from there to three provinces of Qazvin, Alburz and Tehran.
"The project is currently being studied by experts and it seems a precise plan can be determined by 2020,” he added.
The rise of population in Tehran Province and lack of river near location of Iran's capital has created concerns over the possible water shortage and necessity of implementing water transfer projects.
Tehran’s annual quota for non-conventional renewable water is 350 cubic meter per year. The city of Tehran with population of 8.5 million annually consumes 1.3 million cubic meters water and 35,000 liters water per second.
Iran has announced the plan to transfer water from the Caspian Sea in 2013 to Semnan Province to meet the need of the capital city and rural areas in three-year time, but so far the plan has not progressed towards operational phase.
The Chief of Department of Environment Issa Kalantari has said that transferring 7,000 liters of water out of the sea per second won’t affect water level at the sea.
Meanwhile MPs and environmentalists oppose this plan saying the Installation of pipes would definitely cause irreparable damages to the sensitive ecology of Hyrcanian forests.
The positive impacts include adding new basins for water-deficient areas, facilitating water cycle, improving meteorological conditions in the recipient basins, mitigating ecological water shortage, repairing the damaged ecological system, and preserving the endangered wild fauna and flora.
However, the negative impacts include salinization and acidification of the donor basins, damage to the ecological environment of the donor basins and etc.