Urmia Lake has close to 2 billion cubic meters of water covering 1,500 square kilometers, which shows an increase compared to the past nine months when there were about 1.250 bcm of water over less than 1,000 square kilometers, according to official statistics released on the lake’s condition.
The rise in the lake’s water volume and size is because of the last measure implemented by the Urmia Lake Restoration Project, based on which the first phase of the water transfer system from Kanisib Dam to Urmia Lake was launched in March to transfer 300 million cubic meters of water to the troubled lake, ISNA reported.
The construction of a 40-km tunnel at a depth of 150 meters to divert water from the dam in Piranshahr, West Azarbaijan Province, to Urmia Lake was an important measure for the revival of the lake.
Wastewater Transfer
The transfer of reclaimed wastewater from cities in the region is another plan to help restore the lake.
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.
To help transfer more reclaimed wastewater to Urmia Lake, the third phase of the sewage treatment plant in Urmia, West Azarbaijan Province, will become operational soon.
The new phase will help raise the annual inflow of treated wastewater to the lake by 52 million cubic meters.
Several wastewater processing units are at varying stages of construction in the East and West Azarbaijan provinces and will significantly raise the effluent processing capacity after completion.
The second phase of the wastewater treatment plant in Tabriz, East Azarbaijan Province, will also 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.
Located between the provinces of East and West Azarbaijan, the lake is a closed water body fed through 21 permanent and 39 seasonal rivers.
Once the second-largest saltwater lake in the Middle East, it attracted birds and bathers to bask in its turquoise waters in northwest Iran. But since the beginning of the 1970s, nearly three decades of drought and high water demand have shriveled the basin, shrinking it by a shocking 80%.
The lake supports a unique biodiversity and its wetlands have been declared a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.
Biosphere reserves are areas comprising terrestrial, marine and coastal ecosystems. Each reserve promotes solutions reconciling the conservation of biodiversity with its sustainable use.
Last month, the government allocated another $50 million of credit for the implementation of Urmia Lake Restoration Project for this year.
