Azerbaijan, Baku, July 3/ Trend N. Umid/
Feeding furnace fuel oil to Iran's Isfahan power plants caused some $1.63 billion (based on official 12,260 Rial to USD rate) worth of damage, member of Isfahan city council, Arezoo Karimi Moghaddam said, Donya-e-eqtesad daily reported.
She added that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during his latest visit to Isfahan promised to feed gas to power plants which were being fuelled by furnace fuel oil. However the plants have still been using furnace fuel oil so far.
"Furnace fuel oil has three to five per cent sulphur compounds creating five times more air pollution, cardiovascular, respiratory and bronchitis diseases compared to gas," she said.
Acid rain and heavy metals including lead, chromium and mercury which evaporate from furnace fuel oil gases pollute the environment, the newspaper quoted Karimi who also serves as head of the Civil, Architecture and Urban Committee of Isfahan city council as saying.
Every year about 80,000 people in Iran die of environmental pollution, country's Ministry of Health announced, Fars news agency reported on Feb.27.