Municipality Official: Irrigation of 30,000 Hectares in Southern Tehran with Contaminated Sewage Water

While previously officials from the Ministry of Health reported the irrigation of "two thousand hectares" of agricultural land in Tehran with sewage, a municipality official in Tehran states that "25 to 30 thousand hectares" of land in southern Tehran is being irrigated with "contaminated sewage water." According to Ali-Mohammad Shaeri, head of the Environmental Office of Tehran Municipality, on Thursday, July 4, it was emphasized that vegetables are grown on these lands, and irrigating them with sewage "causes serious harm to the people." Government officials and some members of parliament have repeatedly warned about the use of sewage for irrigating agricultural lands in southern Tehran. Meanwhile, Kazem Nadafi, head of the Environmental Health Center of the Ministry of Health, reported on August 13, 2014, that in 2009, eight thousand hectares of land in Tehran were irrigated with sewage, and this figure has now decreased to a quarter. The Iranian Labor News Agency, ILNA, also reported on Saturday, September 6 of the same year, that some agricultural lands in Shahriyar and Varamin are irrigated with sewage, adding that according to official statistics, nearly 50% of these farms grow rice. ILNA's report mentioned water scarcity and low cost as reasons for irrigating agricultural lands with sewage. According to this news agency, the cost of using well water for three hectares over a year is three million and 500 thousand tomans, while the cost of using sewage water for the same area is only one million tomans. Hossein Naqavi Hosseini, a representative from Varamin in parliament, reported on Tuesday, September 17, 2014, that rice is being cultivated in southern Tehran using sewage, and some vegetable farms are also irrigated with sewage. Meanwhile, according to Abed Fattahi, a member of the Health Commission in parliament, many intestinal and gastrointestinal diseases, including "salmonella," "campylobacter," and "amoeba," are transmitted through sewage water to vegetables and then to individuals through consumption. At the same time, Hossein Hashemi, the governor of Tehran, threatened on Tuesday, May 20, 2014, that any unit using contaminated water and sewage for irrigating agricultural products would be destroyed. Mr. Hashemi also stated in July of the same year that 80 to 90 percent of agricultural lands in Tehran province are irrigated with treated water.