Rebirth of Lake Urmia; The volume of water increased 10 times in one year!

The CEO of West Azerbaijan Regional Water announced the significant increase in the water of Lake Urmia; The water volume of the lake reached 2.52 billion cubic meters on 19 Mehr.

Ambassador of Arjan-Economic Group: Majid Rostgari, CEO of West Azerbaijan Regional Water, referring to the latest situation of Lake Urmia, stated: According to the monitoring carried out on October 19 of this year, the current level of the lake has reached 58.1270 meters, while in the same period last year it was 47.1269 meters, which shows a growth of 11.1 meters.

He added: The water volume of the lake is currently estimated at 2.520 billion cubic meters, while on the same day last year it was only 0.26 billion cubic meters, which means that the lake has withdrawn 2.26 billion cubic meters of water in the past year.

The regional water director of West Azerbaijan continued by referring to the 4-fold increase in the size of the lake: the size of Lake Urmia has now reached 1,946 square kilometers, which has increased by 1,478 square kilometers compared to 468 square kilometers last year, and a wide area of dry salt flats has been flooded again.

Salvation of this increasing trend is the result of proper rains, targeted release of water from dams in the catchment area, reduction of illegal harvesting and implementation of lake restoration programs and clarified: the continuation of this trend requires the all-round cooperation of people, farmers and executive bodies to manage water consumption in the catchment area.

Referring to the operation of the Rawan river in order to direct the rains to the lake, he pointed out: despite the relative improvement of the conditions, Lake Urmia is still far from reaching the ecological level, and it is necessary to follow the cultivation pattern and blocking of unauthorized wells with more seriousness.

Director of Planning and Coordination Office of Urmia Lake Restoration Headquarters, referring to the forecast of heavy rains in autumn and winter, hopes that Urmia Lake will enter the next water year with the right amount of water.

At the end of his visit to West Azerbaijan, the president said about the government's plans to revive Lake Urmia: a comprehensive plan is being implemented in which both the country's scientific capacities and global experiences are used.

Rejecting the claim of "100 percent drying up" of this lake, the national working group for saving Urmia lake announced: although the recovery process of Urmia is slow, it is stable, and a part of the water supply is provided by the Kanisib dam. Experts called these claims unscientific and causing public concern.