Urmia Lake holds 1 billion cubic meters of water, which is 32 bcm lower compared to 1996 when it stored 33 bcm, an environment and water expert said.
“The lake is in its most deplorable condition and the impending disintegration of the lake’s unique ecosystem requires immediate attention to prevent its catastrophic socio-ecological repercussions,” Mohammad Darvish was also quoted as saying by the Energy Today's website.
Despite the rise in precipitation rate in most catchment areas, Urmia Lake Basin’s snow cover has decreased by 50%, falling from 85,000 square km to less than 43,000 square km, he added, noting that it is very likely that the lake will become completely dry in summer.
“As long as the lake is deprived of its water share [7 bcm per year], there will be no hope to save the inland body of water. The area of Urmia Lake has dwindled by 300 square kilometers to 3,000 sq. km.,” he said.
According to the expert, the drought, which is unprecedented in the past 50 years, has led to a 50% reduction in water inflow from dams into the lake that is Iran’s largest inland body of water.
Darvish said close to 1 billion cubic meters of water usually evaporate from the lake between June and September.
Located between the provinces of East and West Azarbaijan, the lake is a closed water body fed through 21 permanent and 39 seasonal rivers. Its water started dwindling 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 the construction of several dams that have choked off water supply from the mountains on both sides of the lake.
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.
