Water Levels Decline 30% in Urmia Lake Catchment Area

Water stored water in dams around the catchment area of Lake Urmia has decreased by 30% compared to last year, managing director of West Azarbaijan Regional Water Company said.
“There are eight dams in the catchment area which now hold less than 490 million cubic meters of water, down 30% compared to a year ago when they held 700 mcm,” Atabak Jafari was quoted as saying by Energy Today website.
Since the beginning of the current water year in September, the inflow of water into dams that feed the ailing lake namely Salmas, Zola, Boukan, Agh-Chai, Shahre-Chai, Mahabad, Aras and Sarouq dams (all in West Azarbaijan Province) has been around 920 mcm – down 23% compared to the same period in 2019 when more than 1.2 billion cubic meters flowed into the dams, he added.