Integrated water sanitation management in urban and rural centres of Iran
Seyyed Mahdi Samareh Hashemi, Hamid Reza Tashauoei, Koushiar Azam Vaghefi,
Ahmad Montazeri, Mohammad Reza Mohebi, Zhaleh Farhadpour, Zahra Alizadeh,
Sharareh Labafi and Taranom Azhir
Abstract:
Currently, 330 laboratories in the urban water and wastewater companies and 280
others in the rural water and wastewater companies ensure the quality of water in a
constant manner and according to recommended frequencies. The medical centres and
rural health homes also monitor water quality as observers.
The National Water and Wastewater Company of Iran has the task of policy making,
planning and oversight of activities related to water sanitation at the highest level and
under the 4 general headings of: quality control at water supply resources, quality
control at water distribution networks, water quality control labs and disinfection
systems.
Keywords: potable water quality, integrated potable water management, city and
village, Iran
Introduction:
Today water is considered as a determining component of sustainable development
since improving public health, welfare and ultimately the development of society with
an eye on social equity would be nearly impossible without the supply of safe and
sanitary water. The importance of water in the sustainable development of Iran
becomes clear when we understand that Iran is among countries, which have very low
per capita renewable water resources. The rapid growth of population coupled with
improved urban living standards, which alone can boost demands for water, on one
hand; and the continued trend of water population in the drive for industrial
development on the other have added to the complications of safe and sanitary water
supply according to national and international standards.
According to current laws and regulations, water and wastewater companies are
mandated to supply safe and sanitary potable water. Ensuring water safety was the
main concerns of these companies from their onset. This issue was addressed by
expanding the network of laboratories with the purpose of identifying and measuring
all agents that undermine the quality of water and ensuring the adequacy of sampling
at most locations throughout the country, and by training specialists and interacting
with monitoring bodies such as WHO and the Ministry of Health and Medical
Education.
The dispersion of water and wastewater activities in the past led to many problems
and difficulties in provision of the most infrastructural of all services. Before the
establishment of water and wastewater companies, water supply and distribution as
well as wastewater collection and treatment services were provided in different cities
by the Ministry of Energy, municipalities, private sector, cooperatives, local councils
and municipal companies and in some cases there were no clear custodian. Rural
water supplies also faced similar situation, and before the establishment of rural water
and wastewater companies, they were subject to many changes in management. This
scattered management undermined the implementation of development plans and
efficient use of available capacities, and ultimately provision of services to the public
was faced serious shortcomings. In the year 1989, a new department called the Urban
Water and Wastewater Department was formed in the Ministry of Energy, with the
bill for establishment of water and wastewater companies ratified a year after on 1st
January 1991. The approval of the Law on Establishment of Water and Wastewater
Companies opened a new chapter in the development and improvement of national
urban services. In the rural sector, after the Islamic Revolution in Iran and the
establishment of the Ministry of Construction Jihad, the task of water supply was
pursued in earnest and the mentioned Ministry was mandated with the duty of
creating piped potable water systems in villages with less than 150 households. In the
year 1995, the Islamic Consultative Council ratified the bill for establishment of rural
water and wastewater companies proposed by the Ministry of Construction Jihad,
while on 16th July 2002, the Cabinet of Ministers issued a decree to divest the
Ministry of Construction Jihad from all responsibilities, authorities, manpower,
facilities and credits related to rural water and wastewater and to transfer them instead
to the Ministry of Energy.
Now with 64 affiliated companies, including 34 urban water and wastewater
companies and 30 rural water and wastewater companies, and as the specialised
parent Company, the National Water and Wastewater Engineering Company has the
task of providing comprehensive water and wastewater services in urban and rural
centres throughout the country. There is currently one urban and one rural water and
wastewater company in each province (30 provincial companies) and 4 independent
urban companies in the cities of Mashhad, Kashan, Shiraz and Ahwaz, which provide
these services.
The urban water and wastewater companies are managed as government independent
companies, which ensure their current expenses through their generated incomes.
However, these companies act as governmental project executives for the
implementation of development plans, funded by the national annual budget. In
contrast the rural water and wastewater companies are government entities, which
provide services to rural areas through the government budget.
The law has also provisions for establishment of independent water and wastewater
companies (Clause 2 companies) within the existing water and wastewater companies.
This underlines the extent of action for creating these companies for the purpose of
provision of services.
The objectives in creating the National Water and Wastewater Engineering Company
include organisation of Ministry of Energy's duties in water and wastewater affairs
and efficient use of facilities available in affiliated companies in the context of
approved policies. Moreover, the National Water and Wastewater Company has the
main role of target setting, steering, supporting and overseeing the executive affairs
and the logistics and support of water and wastewater companies, which are in fact
the satellite companies.
Materials and procedures
As a general definition, quality control refers to review of conformity or non
conformity of goods and services with the pre-defined quality in their application.
Water quality control refers to the set of continued and target oriented actions, which
control water quality on the basis of sampling and measuring the physical, chemical
and microbial parameters to ensure the health of those drinking or using this water. In
other words, water quality control is monitoring the changes in the physical, chemical
and microbial qualities of water from the sources of supply to the consumption point
and the sites of discharging effluents to admitting waters or the delivery points to
other consumption sectors.
The main challenges faced for supply and distribution of sanitary water are:
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Increased demands and competition for accessing water resources of better
quality
Limitation of resources and droughts
Expansion of urban areas and the inclusion of water resources within their
limits
Instrumental use of the subject of water quality in social tensions and raising
other demands
Extended distance between sources of supply and consumption points leading
to a drop of quality during the lengthy conveyance
Management of data and information related to water quality
The National Water and Wastewater Company of Iran has the task of policy making,
planning and oversight of activities related to water sanitation at the highest level
under the following 4 general headings:
a) Quality control at water supply resources
The threat to water resources posed by new trends of chemical and biological
contaminants, which show resistance against conventional treatment processes and
which are the results of unsustainable urban expansion and lack of serious attention to
environmental aspects and protection of water resources during the implementation of
new industrial, agricultural and urban services projects, will be the main challenge
faced by water and wastewater companies in the coming decade during their provision
of relevant services.
Given the importance of protecting water resources in the supply and distribution
cycle, the Bureau for Supervision of Water Sanitation in the National Water and
Wastewater Engineering Company has defined the water resources quality control as
its main concern, and has tried to develop the relevant activities through the following
approaches:
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Expanding inter-sector cooperation to prevent the pollution of water resources
and to implement joint water quality control projects
Translating baseline laboratory data to water quality maps
Pursuing issues related to delimiting and acquiring the lands within the
boundaries of water resources with the collaboration of Legal Department
Cooperation with academic centres and universities in studies related to
environmental assessment of water resources
Establishment of data collection and processing system related to water quality
tests, which operates under the web environment
Following up on the plan to implement a GIS system for groundwater
resources
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Organising data related to water quality tests of surface and ground resources
located within the jurisdictions of water and wastewater companies and
preparing the descriptive charts
Modeling changes in water quality at aquifers based on changes occurred to
date.
Management and prevention of water quality crises during emergencies such
as contamination of water by microbial parameters, oil leaks, etc
b) Quality control at water distribution networks
Given the mutual impacts of water and installations as well as the networks' physical
conditions such as age, retention time, water pressure and number of accidents, and
furthermore as the means of conveying water from source of production to the point
of consumption, water distribution networks play a determining role in preventing
secondary pollutions and threats to consumer health. For this reason monitoring the
quality of water in the distribution network through the following actions has been
included in the duties of the Bureau.
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Participation in the compilation and revision of water quality standards
Implementation of water safety plan in the supply and distribution networks
Selection of crisis control points to measure water quality parameters
Expansion of plans to monitor water quality in distribution networks
Application of new technologies in the frame of telemetry and remote control
systems for online measurement of key parameters such as free residual
chlorine, turbidity and a number of physical and chemical parameters (EC,
NO3)
Increasing quality parameters to ensure the adequacy of water safety at
consumption points
Defining the drinking water quality indicators (DWQI)
Developing plans to flush the networks through new technologies
Flushing water reservoirs
Ensuring the adequacy of quality parameter measurement to guarantee the
safety of water at consumption points
Promoting the use of quality modeling software (EPANET) for the distribution
network to manage water quality
Preparing the records (material, age, length, etc) and the digital maps of water
distribution networks
Determining the priorities for rehabilitation and renovation of networks on the
basis of water quality indicators
Establishing the indicators for acceptable levels of free residual chlorine and
microbial parameters
c) Water quality control laboratories
Water and wastewater labs are considered as the internal audit instruments to ensure
the sanitation and safety of potable water as well as the proper functioning of all the
units involved in the process of water production and distribution such as treatment
and operation. The complications of identifying and specifying the amounts of
contaminants, particularly micro-contaminants, which threaten human health even at
very small doses, led to the independent expansion of water and wastewater labs and
pursuit of their issues as mentioned below:
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Actions to obtain ISO 17025 and OHSAS certificates for urban and rural water
and wastewater companies
Preparing a data bank in web environment related to lab infrastructures
Enforcing national regulations related to construction of new laboratories
Standardising the lab spaces
Compiling guidelines on equipment and safety of water laboratories
Compiling guidelines on discharge of hazardous wastes from water and
wastewater labs
Creating joint micro-contaminant labs for urban and rural water and
wastewater companies
Using the specialised capacities of private laboratories to measure microcontaminants
Expansion of lab networks to cover all tests in the distribution networks and
resources according to standards
Increasing the capacity of laboratories to measure micro-contaminants
d) Disinfection systems
The importance of protecting water from microbial contaminants by application of
contaminants and while minimizing the unwanted effects using such disinfectants on
consumers through a safe operation and economically justifiable approach have made
the subject of disinfection systems and their relevant issues to be addressed under a
separate heading with the following sections:
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Establishment of specialised safety committee for gaz chlorination units
composed of representatives from ministries of health, energy and interior at
national level to review issues and propose emergency action plans
Use of private sector capacities in creating and operating water disinfection
systems (through BOO contracts)
Development of disinfection systems capable of in situ production of
disinfectants
Implementing plans for economical and technical studies of different water
disinfection systems
Compiling applied training programmes for operators of water disinfection
systems
Application of telemetry systems at water disinfection units
Water Quality Policy Council
To benefit from experiences of water quality managers in urban and rural water and
wastewater companies during the compilation of general policies and to prepare
guidelines on standards and procedures for water quality control, the Water Quality
Policy Council was established in the year 2008 in the Department of Operations of
the National Water and Wastewater Engineering Company.
To address the specialised affairs of the Council, 8 task committees were established
under the headings of monitoring water resources quality, handling water quality
crises, water disinfection systems, quality control of water networks and reservoirs,
Laboratory (standards, building, facilities, human resources (organisational charts,
training, qualifications) quality control of water treatment systems, and the
compilation of indicators for water quality control. These Committees are:
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Lab Committee
Human Resources Committee
Committee for Monitoring the Quality of Water Resources
Committee for Prevention and Handling Water Quality Crises
Committee for Water Disinfection Systems
Committee for Monitoring the Quality of Water Networks and Reservoirs
Committee for Controlling the Quality of Water Treatment Systems
Committee for Compilation of Indicators for Water Quality Control
The Council has so far prepared the following guidelines:
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Guidelines on design and safety of water laboratories
Guidelines on design, operation and safety of gaz chlorination units
Controlling the quality of water treatment systems
Frequency of water resources sampling
Water quality monitoring plan for potable water distribution networks and
reservoirs
Circular on physical protection of water reservoirs and other water supply
facilities
Conclusion
In recent years Iran has succeeded considerably in improving the indicators to access
safe potable water, while in the year 1979, 75.3 percent of the total 17.5 million urban
population of the country were covered by water services. In the year 2011, this
indicator has reached the 99.02 percent of the 55.8 million persons living in urban
areas. Furthermore the urban water supply capacity has increased from 1.5 billion m3
in the year 1979 to 8.5 billion m3 in the year 2011, underlining the huge investment
made to develop the urban water supply systems. In the year 2011, the water and
wastewater services have been extended to 72.32 percent of the rural population of
21.8 million.
To control the quality of potable water and to supply and distribute water according to
national standards, the water and wastewater companies have increased the number of
their chemical, bacteriological and biological laboratories. The number of water
quality labs in the urban water and wastewater companies has increased from 31 in
the year 1995 to 470 units in the year 2011, while during the years 2003 to 2011 the
number of labs in rural water and wastewater companies has increased from 90 to 548
units (Figure 1).
470
472
500
408
400
450
102
105
2004
2005
350
310
31
100
90
92
150
193
166
231
237
2003
318
349
315
313
269
2002
164
200
264
194
250
212
300
132
Number of Labs
350
50
356
400
0
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
Year
Urban water and wastewater companies
Rural water and wastewater companies
Figure 1: The number of water and wastewater labs in urban and rural WWCs (1995-2011)
The number of disinfection units in urban water and wastewater companies has
increased from 1810 in the year 1995 to 3498 units in the year 2011, while in rural
areas this number has increased from 7976 in the year 2004 to 14232 units in the year
2011 (figure 2).
2011
11231
10192
9405
2527
2581
2607
2663
9789
9644
2317
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
8566
7976
8000
1876
1992
2083
2052
1860
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
1811
1962
2000
2247
3498
4000
3221
6000
1810
Number of chlorination sites
12000
10000
12254
14000
0
1996
1997
2004
2010
2011
Year
Urban water and wastewater companies
Rural water and wastewater companies
Figure 2: The number of disinfection systems in urban and rural WWCs (1995-2011)
The different water and wastewater quality parameters are measured in the urban and
rural water and wastewater companies and the quality parameters of the distributed
water, such as turbidity, free residual chlorine, and important bacteria are constantly
monitored to take the necessary action immediately in case of any diversion from
standards.
Reference:
Data available in National Water and Wastewater Engineering Company