Ray of Hope for Urmia Lake

Amid the crushing disappointment of Lake Urmia’s gradual disappearance, a wastewater development project in Tabriz, East Azarbaijan Province, is about to offer a ray of hope to revive the troubled lake, the head of West Azarbaijan Water and Wastewater Company said.
“The second phase of the wastewater treatment plant will help raise the annual inflow of treated wastewater to Urmia Lake by 125% as it will transfer 75 million cubic meters of reclaimed sewage to the lake per year,” the Energy Ministry’s news portal also quoted Ali Mohammad-Khani as saying.
An estimated 60 mcm of reclaimed wastewater enter Urmia Lake every year, part of which is from treatment plants in Naqadeh, Urmia, Mahabad, Miandoab, Salmas and Boukan in the northwestern province.
The plan, started in 2015, was supposed to go on stream in January but financial constraints have delayed it, he added, noting that the pilot phase of the project is underway and once it’s successful, the treatment plants will divert 75 mcm of processed effluent to the lake in March 2023.