Iran's dilapidated plumbing network: "15 percent" of treated water is wasted

The Iranian Water and Wastewater Company says that about 15 percent of the country's treated water is wasted due to the worn-out transmission and distribution network, and there are approximately the same amount of other losses of treated water.

The company announced in a report on Tuesday, November 15, that last year, 1.257 billion cubic meters of the country's purified water was lost due to network leaks; in other words, 15 percent of the purified water was wasted without reaching the consumer.

Also, last year, 411 million cubic meters of solar water was used for unauthorized purposes, and the account for 528 million cubic meters of purified water is not clear due to the inaccuracy of the metering equipment used to sell water to customers.

Thus, about 28 percent of the treated water is either wasted in the network or used illegally. Iran has faced water challenges over the past few years, and this summer, a water crisis gripped many provinces, especially in the south of the country.

Meanwhile, official statistics indicate that the water reserves in the country's dams have fallen to less than 40 percent, and this year, for the first time, there is a risk of a drinking water crisis in winter.

The report says that the amount of treated water wasted in Iran is five times that of Germany.

The aforementioned report did not state which official report it is based on regarding the amount of water waste in Germany, but according to statistics from the German Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, the amount of household water consumption in this country, with a population similar to Iran's, is about 6.4 billion cubic meters per year, and 96 percent of urban wastewater is sent back to treatment plants for reuse in the industrial and agricultural sectors.

The wastewater treatment capacity in Iran is reported to be only 700 million cubic meters per year.

Source: Radio Farda