Glimmer of Hope For Urmia Lake Revival

Effective programs have been implemented to revive the troubled Urmia Lake and environment officials in East and West Azarbaijan province hope Iran’s largest inland body of water should reach its ecological level (1,274 meters above sea level) by 2025.
According to IRNA, the first step to recover the dying lake was taken in 2013 when the Urmia Lake Restoration Program (ULRP) was announced and 27 plans were launched to resolve the problem of salt storms around the lake that had endangered the livelihood of six million people in a 100-kilometer radius by early 2015.
Some of the schemes included interbasin water transfer, curbing water consumption in the agro sector, increasing water flow to the lake and using wastewater by upholding environmental standards.
According to a report by the Iran Water Resources Management Company (subsidiary of the Energy Ministry), seven years since the action plans were launched most are either complete or in the final stages.