A water treatment plant has been built in the water-stressed village of Azati in Sarbaz County of Sistan-Baluchestan Province to supply drinking water for villagers with the financial support of the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines.
The humanitarian project was inaugurated on Wednesday in a ceremony attended by officials from IRISL, Parvin Farshchi, deputy for marine environment at the Department of Environment, and Hamideddin Yousefi, governor of Sarbaz County.
"The plant, whose construction took six months, is able to produce drinking water for some 170 households," said Alireza Taqavi, a deputy at IRISL, DOE's official website reported.
Taqavi noted that the water treatment plant produces 15 cubic meters of fresh water daily, using a modern polyethylene technology.
The plant has been a breath of fresh air for Azati villagers whose livelihood was long threatened by drought and lack of freshwater.
However, there are still an estimated 1,680 villages in the southeastern province lacking piped water.
According to data, freshwater in 1,300 villages is being supplied via tankers, making access to safe drinking water a major concern in Sistan-Baluchestan.
The average annual precipitation in the province has halved over a 40-year period, based on a report by the National Drought Warning and Monitoring Center.
