Baku, Azerbaijan, July 7
Trend:
Iran’s Khuzestan Water and Power Authority (KWPA) has signed a memorandum of understanding with Chinese SEPCO on a water supply project in the north eastern area of Khuzestan province, located in south western country.
Under the deal, the Chinese side will finance the project for supplying water to Izeh, Baghmalek, Meydavoud, Ramhormoz and Seydoun cities, the energy ministry of Iran announced.
The water will be used for drinking as well as development of agricultural and horticultural areas to expand tourism and establishing new jobs in the region.
The project, which will be implemented with 270 million euro of finance, is planed to supply 11.1 cubic meter of water per second from the Karoun 3 dam, of that eight cubic meters will be used for agricultural purposes.
The project will be implemented within 42 months.
Water consumption efficiency in Iran’s agriculture sector hardly reaches 44 percent and over 56 percent of water consumed in the agriculture sector is being wasted due to improper usage.
Iran’s total water output is almost 100 billion cubic meters, out of which about 78 percent is used in agriculture, according to the official statistics.
The Islamic Republic is located in an arid zone and the country is facing a serious water shortage crisis.
However, many experts believe that the current water shortage is a result of mismanagement of water resources, rather than drought.