Experimental Operation of Water Supply Project to Abadan and Khorramshahr Launched Ahead of Schedule

About a week after the poor quality of drinking water in Khorramshahr led to protests that turned violent, the 'experimental' operation of the Ghadir water supply project began. This project, which started in 2010, has reportedly been executed in less than 45 days due to severe protests from the residents of this province. According to Fars News Agency, with the start of the experimental operation of this water supply project on Wednesday, July 4, which is implemented by the Khatam al-Anbiya Headquarters of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the water in the cities of Abadan and Khorramshahr is now sweet. However, the sweetening of the water in these cities has not been independently confirmed. Meanwhile, across the border in Iraq, an official from the Iraqi Foreign Ministry reported that Iran has cut off the flow of 42 rivers into the country. Last Friday, Khorramshahr witnessed protests against the poor quality of drinking water, which continued on Saturday, July 9. With the arrival of police and security forces to the protest scene, which resorted to gunfire and tear gas, these gatherings turned violent, leaving several injured. Valiollah Hayati, the governor of Khorramshahr, described the current water situation in the city as 'completely satisfactory' and stated, 'The salinity of the water has disappeared, and the water in the county is now sweet.' He did not provide details on the process of improving water quality and addressing the salinity issue. At that time, reports indicated that the hardness of the water in the Khorramshahr and Abadan network had reached 12,000 microsiemens per cubic meter, six times the permissible limit, rendering drinking water in these counties unusable. An official from the water and electricity department in Khuzestan attributed this to three instances of 'pipe breaks.' The governor of Khuzestan then promised that with the repair of the 'Ghadir' pipeline, the hardness of the water in these two cities would drop to 5,000 microsiemens per cubic meter, and he pledged that with the completion of the second phase of Ghadir by July 5, this level would fall below 3,000 microsiemens per cubic meter. The Ghadir water supply project consists of a 90-kilometer pipeline intended to supply water in the short term from the Karkheh Dam and in the future from the Dez Dam to Khorramshahr and other cities. Now, according to Fars News Agency, quoting Reza Ardakanian, the Minister of Energy, 'The Khatam al-Anbiya Engineering Headquarters executed the one-year water supply project for these cities in less than 45 days. Today, 80% of the water in Abadan and Khorramshahr is supplied by the Ghadir project, which has reduced the salinity of the water.' However, since this project, according to the head of the Khuzestan Water and Wastewater Company, is still incomplete, water supply by tanker will continue in the outskirts of the city and rural areas. On social media, including Twitter, some users reported improvements in the quality of drinking water in Khorramshahr since Tuesday, but others expressed doubt about the accuracy of these claims. Radio Farda cannot independently verify these claims. Additionally, on Thursday, July 4, the news website 'Baghdad Post' reported, quoting the spokesman for the Iraqi Foreign Ministry, that dozens of rivers have been closed to Iraq by Iran. According to this report, Ahmad Mahjoub, the spokesman for this ministry, stated that Iran has cut off the flow of 42 rivers to Iraq. This report did not detail this action or its possible connection to the water situation in Iran, particularly in Khorramshahr and Abadan. Ahmad Mahjoub also tweeted only about his meeting with Iraj Masjedi, the Iranian ambassador in Baghdad, without providing details of this meeting.