The surface area of Iran’s largest inland body of water (Lake Urmia) has increased by 68% over the last six years, the Urmia Lake Restoration Project administrator and director of the Planning Office said.
“The size of the lake had dwindled to less than 1,780 square kilometers in 2014. The ULPR helped raise the area to 3,000 km2,” Masoud Tajrishi was quoted as saying by IRNA.
Had it not been for restoration plan the lake would have dried up and salt storms would seriously endanger the livelihood of more than six million people in a 100-kilometer radius, he said.
Debate over the potential health hazards of Lake Urmia became a regular feature of the local media in 2013 (before the ULRP was mandated to stabilize the lake’s water level), with those involved in the restoration program pointing to cancer, high blood pressure and respiratory diseases as the main dangers of the drying lake.
Residents of surrounding villages and even as far as Tabriz had been inhaling salt-laden air between 2013 and 2015, leading to high blood pressure among the people. Increase in the volume of particles in the air posed a grave danger to public health.
“Based on satellite images of the lake in 2014, its decreasing surface area had caused expansion of salt planes with high albedo (proportion of the incident light or radiation reflected by a surface) affecting the thermal balance of the atmosphere above the lake,” Tajrishi said.
Residents of villages near the lake plus places as far as Tabriz breathed salt-laden air between 2013 and 2015, leading to high blood pressure among the people in general
However, efforts (by the government, international organizations including the UNDP) to save water within the drainage basin of the lake paid off and the lake now is 1,271.8 meters above sea level.
“This level is 1.32 meters higher compared to six years ago when the restoration measures started. The lake now spreads over 3,000 km2 with 5.25 billion cubic meters of water.”
Following implementation of ULRP, water consumption in the lake’s watershed has declined by at least 40%.
Moreover, part of ULRP plans to cut water consumption calls for preventing construction of new dams and suspending dam projects underway until the lake returns to an acceptable level. As a result "building of the semi-finished Simineh, Barandouz and Nazlou dams has been suspended."
Located between the provinces of East and West Azarbaijan, Urmia Lake is a closed water body fed through 21 permanent and 39 seasonal rivers.
It started to desiccate 10 years ago due to a variety of factors, including the construction of a 15-km causeway to shorten travel time between Urmia and Tabriz cities and construction of several dams that have choked off water supply from the mountains on either side of the lake.
Less Water in Dams
In related news, IRNA said according to Iran Water Management Company (a subsidiary of the Energy Ministry), the amount of water stored in dams is gradually receding.
Close to 34 billion cubic meters of water is stored in dams, down 10% compared to this time last year when it was 38 bcm.
Dams collectively can hold 50 billion cubic meters but now are 68% full. Last year this time it was 73%.
Downward trend in stored water, which is causing concern, is not only due to decline in precipitation but also rising consumption due to the coronavirus as more people tend to wash and clean and follow hygienic protocols.
Since the beginning of the current water year (Sept 2019), the total volume of water inflow into reservoirs has been 52 billion cubic meters. Last year it was 85 bcm.
Although heavy rains between February and April helped increase water levels, soaring temperatures in the past few weeks (39°C and above) plus the fight against the pandemic have fast pushed up consumption.
