Iranian Deputy Minister for Energy Attar-zade said that specialists have prepared a project to transfer water from the Persian and Oman Gulfs and the Caspian Sea to the Central Plateau of Iran.
About 200 million cubic meters of water from the Caspian Sea are planned to be used for irrigation annually. But such volumes would cause damage to the sea’s ecosystem, head of the Center for Social Links of the Russian Federal Agency for Fishing Alexander Saveliev said, ITAR-TASS reports.
About 80% of Caspian water comes from River Volga.
Realization of the Iranian project started in Sari, the administrative center of the Mazandaran Province, attended by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinead. The project will be realized in three stages, the first of which starts at the Caspian Sea.
One of the routes will to transfer water starts in Mazandaran. About 500 million cubic meters of water will be transported to Semnan, Kum, Isfahan and Kashan. Water will also be transferred from the eastern part of the Caspian Sea to the Horasan-Rezavi and Yezd provinces.
Water will be transported from Bandar-Abbas to Golgohar and further to Kerman.
The project is worth $1.5 billion. A 500 km long pipeline will run to Dashte-Kavir.
