The head of Iran’s Department of the Environment has announced serious concern over the release of untreated city and town sewage into rivers in some parts of the country, referring to it as an environmental catastrophe.
In a report in the Sharvand Daily on Monday October 6, Massoumeh Ebtekar said the Department of the Environment is firmly pursuing strict implementation of the ban on releasing untreated sewage into rivers, in close cooperation with the Ministry of Power.
In recent years, river banks in many locations have been transformed into a dumping site for city, town, industrial and hospital waste.
Ebtekar stressed that authorities are also pursuing the issue of adequate disposal of industrial and hospital waste.
The Zarjppb and Gohar-rood Rivers in Gilan are both highly polluted, receiving 600 tons of waste each year.
The head of the Gilan Department of the Environment confirmed that sewage from the capital city of Rasht is released directly into these rivers, emphasizing that there is an immediate need to adequately treat waste water before releasing it into the country’s rivers.
