Governor of Khorramshahr: Water Salinity Has Been Eliminated, Now the Water is Sweet

While a Ministry of Interior official stated that last night's unrest in Khorramshahr left only 11 injured, the governor of the city reported on Sunday, July 1st, that the water quality has improved, which was the reason for the unrest, and that the water is now sweet. According to an official from the Islamic Republic's Ministry of Interior, the unrest in Khorramshahr last night resulted in 11 injuries, of which ten were 'law enforcement officers.' His remarks came after a peaceful gathering of Khorramshahr citizens protesting the shortage and quality of drinking water turned violent on Saturday, July 9th. In one of several videos released from these protests, gunfire can be clearly heard, and an individual is injured by a bullet while others attempt to assist him. Hossein Zolfaqari, the Deputy for Security and Law Enforcement at the Ministry of Interior, added that all these individuals were injured by 'an armed person' who has not yet been 'identified.' According to Mr. Zolfaqari, the armed individual was 'among the people' and the events of last night occurred due to the continuation of protests by nearly a hundred individuals whom he referred to as 'adventurers.' He also announced the beginning of investigations into the 'infiltration of agents into the Khorramshahr protests' and stated that the unrest did not cause serious damage to the city. The governor of Khorramshahr also denied reports of one death during these protests, stating: 'No specific damage was inflicted on the city during these riots, and only public property windows were broken.' Valiollah Hayati also mentioned only one person was injured, and that too 'superficially,' adding that law enforcement had arrested the 'disturbers' from last night in the city. Mr. Hayati described the current water situation in Khorramshahr as 'completely satisfactory' and said: 'The salinity of the water has been eliminated, 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 and poor quality issues in the city. Reports indicate that the hardness of the water in the Khorramshahr and Abadan networks has recently reached 12,000 microsiemens per cubic meter, which is six times the permissible limit, rendering drinking water in these counties unusable. In this context, the governor of Khuzestan announced yesterday that by repairing the 'Ghadir' pipeline, the hardness of the water in these two cities would be reduced to 5,000 microsiemens per cubic meter, and promised that with the completion of the second phase of Ghadir by July 5th, this level would drop below 3,000 microsiemens per cubic meter. According to another report, the director of the 'Sacred Defense' cultural center in Khorramshahr also denied rumors of the museum garden being set on fire, stating: 'The fire was related to the green space next to the center, which was extinguished in the early hours.' Thamer Kanani, in response to the publication of this news late last night and the intensification of clashes in Khorramshahr, emphasized that this center 'suffered no damage' and that they 'had visitors from China since the early hours of Sunday.' Sources: IRNA, ISNA, Radio Farda.