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Add to Preferred SourcesA settlement for Afghan refugees in Iran is addressing the water crisis by reusing wastewater through sewage treatment plants. Mostafa, one of the residents, plays an important role in making sure the system works like clockwork.
“I was a seven-year-old boy when I started accompanying my father on his errands as an installation technician in the settlement where I grew up”, says Mostafa, 25.
Born in Iran to Afghan parents who arrived from Afghanistan, Mostafa has been living in Rafsanjan refugee settlement, in the south-eastern province of Kerman, his entire life. His passion for fixing and installing equipment made him the perfect candidate to operate and manage the sewage treatment plant (STP) set up by the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) in the settlement.
Funded by the European Commission’s Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid department (ECHO), the project addresses the water crisis in this arid and semi-arid part of the country. By treating wastewater generated from the settlement’s communal showers and latrines, and by removing contaminants, water becomes environmentally safe and suitable for local agricultural needs and for watering green spaces. This is lifting the burden on the settlement’s main groundwater sources.
Evolving infrastructure for a 40-year-old settlement
Rafsanjan Settlement was built nearly four decades ago when Afghans began to seek refuge in Iran, fleeing conflict, insecurity and economic hardship in neighbouring Afghanistan. Its infrastructure was designed to meet immediate needs for a temporary period. Yet, nearly 40 years on, second and third generation Afghans still call it home.
Among the settlement’s municipal services, ten sewage tanks had, until recently, been the only system of collecting wastewater from the communal showers and latrines. The tanks had to be pumped out on a daily basis, contributing to harmful environmental and health hazards.
Bibigol, a 37-year-old mother living in the settlement remembers the problems she and others would face at the showers before the sewage treatment plant became operational.
“The number of people wanting to take a shower at end of each week (Thursdays and Fridays) is much higher. Since the tanks were not pumped out on Fridays, they would overflow and people using the shower would be ankle-deep in overflowing wastewater.”
The settlement’s groundwater source was used for meeting household water needs as well as watering the settlement’s pistachio farm and the green spaces.
This meant that there were days when the residents would not be able to take a shower as the water pressure was too low. Today, agricultural related water needs are supplied from the treated wastewater, leaving the main groundwater source solely for household and communal needs.
Original source: NRC
Published on 22 March 2018