The scheme will require the construction of a 2.74-metre-diameter overland pipeline running 330 kilometres across Iran, with a 170,000 cubic metre water reservoir and a water treatment plant to be built at the outset of the line. A booster pumping station, 7 kilometres south of the treatment plant, will enhance pumping capacity. Three surge control pressure vessels will be located along the line, which will be entirely buried except for four river crossings.

The submarine line, consisting of three parallel 1.42-metre-diameter submarine pipes, will stretch over 210 kilometres from a coastal station south of Hendijan to a water transfer terminal in southern Kuwait. The terminal will be complemented by another reservoir, as well as pumping and water treatment facilities, to be built by Kuwait's Ministry of Electricity & Water.

'The feasibility study has identified all the requirements for engineering, routes, sites and other issues,' says Brian Hendry, chief executive of Gulf Utilities. 'There are no major technical challenges to the project except for ground works that will be required on the Iranian side.'