The water transfer project from Kanisib Dam in Piranshahr, West Azarbaijan Province, is one of the measures to revive Urmia Lake, which will become operational in the coming months, deputy energy minister for water affairs said.
“A 36-kilometer tunnel is in its final stages of construction and water will reach the lake soon,” Mohammad Javanbakht was also quoted as saying by the Energy Ministry’s news portal Paven.
“The project will allow the transfer of 5 cubic meters of water per second from the Kanisib Dam, located near the border with Iraq, to the lake,” he said, adding that with the completion of the project, 600 million cubic meters of water will be transferred to the lake.
The announcement came days after environmental advocates warned about the deteriorating condition of Urmia Lake, a large salt lake that has shrunk in size and water supply because of repeated spells of drought, damming and groundwater pumping in surrounding areas.
Local officials in West Azarbaijan said in March that the surface area of Urmia Lake had shrunk by nearly a third over one year to reach 2,324 square kilometers. The amount of water in the lake has also decreased by less than a half to around 3 billion cubic meters, down 40% compared to 2019 when it stored 5 bcm.
The drying up of Urmia Lake has caused major dust storms in Iran in recent years.
Javanbakht said the ministry will purchase lands near the Kanisib Dam for expanding the reservoir and ensuringf that the supply of water to the lake will remain stable.
He said river dredging and other operations will continue in the meantime until the project is completed.
Water transfer, both from domestic and foreign sources, had long been proposed as a solution to restore the lake.
Other measures have been taken to help replenish the lake, including the efficient management of surface and underground water in the lake’s vicinity, sealing over 4,000 illegal wells near the region and promoting sustainable farming on 6,000 hectares.
Treated Wastewater
In addition, plans are underway to treat wastewater from nearby cities like Tabriz and Urmia that can annually supply 105 mcm of water to the lake.
Transferring reclaimed wastewater to the lake is a practical solution without environmental costs, which can help revive the troubled inland water body.
With a total investment of $100 million, the West Azarbaijan Water and Wastewater Company is constructing several treatment plants in cities located in the lake's catchment area, one of which is in Tabriz with a total capacity of processing over 125 million cubic meters of sewage per year.
Operations are also underway in Ajabshir, Bonab and Azarshahr in East Azarbaijan Province.
The company plans to lay 1,100 kilometers of pipelines and so far, 300 km have been laid.
The move is in line with the guidelines of Urmia Lake Restoration Project that has tasked towns and cities in the vicinity of the lake’s basin to treat their wastewater and direct it toward the lake.
The construction of the second phase of the wastewater treatment plant in Tabriz, East Azarbaijan Province, is underway and when completed, the facility will help raise the inflow of treated wastewater to the troubled Urmia Lake by 150%.
The second phase of the development project is expected to increase the current capacity [130 cubic meters per day] to 207,000 cm/d, a large part of which will be diverted to the lake.
Located between the provinces of East and West Azarbaijan, Urmia Lake has been struggling with serious drought for years.
Once the second-largest saltwater lake in the Middle East, the lake attracted birds and bathers to bask in its turquoise waters in northwest Iran. However, in the early 1970s, nearly three decades of drought shriveled the basin, shrinking it by a shocking 80%.
Climate change, long dry spells, unrestrained damming and excessive water use, especially in the inefficient agro sector, have led to the depletion of the lake in the past decade.
