Operation of the Ghadir Khuzestan Water Transmission System under Defensive Conditions Using Hydraulic Modeling

Access to drinking water is one of the most important human needs and citizenship rights. For this reason, the supply, transmission, treatment, and distribution of sanitary drinking water in order to meet the water needs of urban and rural subscribers is one of the primary tasks and priorities of every government. The Ghadir Water Project in Khuzestan, aimed at supplying water to the central, western, and southwestern cities of Khuzestan Province, is of great significance as the largest water transfer project in Iran. Accordingly, the current study focuses on the operation of the Ghadir Khuzestan water transmission system under defensive conditions using WaterGEMS software modeling. First, the hydraulic model of the studied transportation system is prepared and calibrated using hydraulic software. In the second stage, the quality of delivered water, as well as the strategy to ensure the sustainability of water transfer in emergency and defense conditions, were examined. A comparison of the quality results indicates that the establishment of the Northern Ghadir pump station and the replacement of the Dez Dam with the Karkheh Dam as the new water supply source for the Ghadir water transmission system will have a significant effect on improving the quality of the water being transferred in compliance with the water quality standards of Iran, as it reduces the EC amount of the water being sent by about 68%. According to the proposed solution in this research, in the emergency and temporary shutdown conditions of the main pumping station, which is responsible for pumping 90% of the total water volume required for the target cities, 60% of this water volume can be supplied through the Northern Ghadir pump station to ensure the continuity of water supply.