Declining Caspian Sea levels (1.5 meters since 1995) has exacerbated loss of territorial waters in Iran, the operator of an international plan to monitor variations in the Caspian Sea water level said.
“Satellite-based studies (since 2005) have shown that level of Iran’s territorial waters is less than the global average and is reducing gradually,” Homayoun Khoshravan was quoted as saying by IRNA.
A country's territorial waters are the parts of the sea close to its coast which are recognized by international agreement to be under its control.
In addition to irreparable ecological harm, the reducing water levels in the Caspian Sea have led to the shrinkage of territorial waters, he said.
In some regions around the Caspian Sea, coastline has reduced between 60 meters and 200 meters, meaning territorial waters are depleting gradually, Khoshravan said.
Elaborating the point, he noted that climate change and global warming are the main culprits behind the lowering water levels in lakes including the Caspian Sea Iran shares with Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan.
“Global temperature is increasing, and is faster at the poles. As a result, ice sheets and glaciers thaw and water levels in oceans are rising. Global warming has a reverse effect on lakes. It reduces humidity and evaporation in lakes and results in decreasing water levels. The Caspian Sea in no exception.”
The inland sea experienced a massive drop in water level in the late 1970s when several wetlands in Golestan and Mazandaran provinces (namely Gomishan, Gorgan, and Kiashahr) went dry, he recalled
The Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed inland body of water on Earth by area. It is bounded by Kazakhstan to the northeast, Russia to the northwest, Azerbaijan to the west, Iran to the south, and Turkmenistan to the southeast. The sea has a surface area of 371,000 square kilometers and a volume of 78,200 cubic kilometers.
Latest data from the Water Research Institute shows average water level in the Caspian Sea in the last water year (September 2018-19) dropped by 12 centimeters compared to the previous year.
Clear Warning
The WRI report shows that the water level has been of the descending order in recent years. Last year’s measurement put the sea’s water level at minus 27 meters (relative to that of the Baltic Sea).
The Baltic Sea datum is used as a reference point to measure fluctuations in the Caspian Sea water level.
Environmental activists including Mohammad Darvish, a researcher at the Research Institute for Forests and Rangelands say transferring water from the Caspian Sea to Semnan Province can further decrease water levels in the lake.
The plan to transfer at least 100 mcm of water (annually) through a 200-kilometer pipeline from Mazandaran Province to Semnan Province has been promoted as a solution to help meet growing demand in the agro, industrial and household sectors of the water-stressed region.
However, the unclear legal status of the Caspian Sea is a complex issue for the project. The five littoral states (Iran, Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan) and their governments have yet to agree on a fair and final deal related to water sharing.
Decades of negotiations have failed to produce a consensus. Experts warn about other impending disasters if the other four countries decide to go Iran’s way and transfer Caspian water to their thirsty regions
Darvish said implementing the controversial water transfer project, Iran will set a bad precedent.
“Imagine what would happen if each of those countries decided to pump water from the Caspian Sea, desalinate it and transfer the salt and wastewater back to the sea. It will destroy all marine life and further reduce the sea level.”
