We will not pass on Hirmand’s water rights in any way/ we have changed our strategy in water supply

According to Energy Press, Issa Bozorgzadeh, the spokesperson of the water industry, said today at the opening ceremony of the water and electricity projects of Sistan and Baluchistan province: Despite being vast, this province has an average rainfall of 100 mm and different water supply regimes.

He added: Considering the issues that have arisen in recent years to secure Hirmand’s water rights, we formulated plans so that Sistan and Baluchistan province does not rely only on this sector, so three plans were formulated.

He explained: In the short-term plan, the provision of drinking water from local underground water sources was on the agenda, and in the medium-term plans, the implementation of the transmission line from the eastern aquifers to Zahedan and Sistan region was on the agenda, and in the plan In the long term, the transfer of water from the Sea of ​​Oman was defined.

In response to a question about which population will be covered by the implementation of this plan, the spokesperson of the water industry said: The population that will be covered by these plans is the same population that was covered by the Hirmand water rights during an emergency. In fact, five important cities of Sistan region, plus more than 950 villages of the region and 500 thousand people of Zahedan region, which includes a total of about one million people, will be covered.

Bozorgzadeh continued: Considering that citizens of neighboring countries also live in these areas, our estimate is that the number of people who use this water is higher than these numbers.

In response to another question about how much of Hirmand’s water rights we will lose with the implementation of this plan, he clarified: We will not be without Hirmand’s water rights in any way, and following the disruption that occurred in the Hirmand water rights process, the Ministry of Energy and Strategy It changed itself to supply drinking water and agriculture and we achieved a new strategy.