Namak (Salt) Lake in Qom Province is drying up and if it is not provided with enough water resources, nearly 25% of the country’s population will face the problem of dust storms soon, a lawmaker said.
Ahmad Amirabadi, Qom representative in the Majlis, compared the lake with the crisis-inflicted Lake Urmia located between East Azarbaijan and West Azarbaijan provinces that too has almost dried in recent years.
The MP said Namak Lake’s condition is more serious as it could emerge as an environmental disaster if the lakebed disappears, IRNA reported.
Namak Lake is a salt lake in the desert of the Iranian plateau, 100 kilometers east of the shrine city of Qom and 150km southeast of Tehran. It has a surface area of about 3,000 square kilometers but now is mostly dry and small volumes of water can only be seen in some parts after removing a few centimeters of salt from the surface.
According to Amirabadi, should the lake dry up completely, it will become the main source of dust and salt particles close to Tehran, Alborz, Qom, Markazi, Isfahan and Semnan provinces.
The dust and sand are threatening neighboring cities including Tehran, Garmsar, Natanz, Kashan, Saveh, Karaj and Qom. Salt has accumulated over the years as the lake shrinks and winds spread the salt far and wide threatening farmlands and agriculture along with public health.
Climate change and years of drought have led to water shortage in many regions across the country. Loss of Namak Lake notwithstanding, poor management has also resulted in depleting underground water resources and the construction of tens of dams over rivers that pour into the lake (including the Jajrood and Karaj and Qom rivers).
“The Ministry of Energy has allocated 154 million cubic meters of water to the lake as its water right. But so far no water has entered the lake,” Amirabadi rued.
However, if precipitation levels improve the lake might be saved, he said
> Lake Urmia
Lake Urmia is a salt lake in the northwest. Up until the 1990s, it was the largest in the Middle East and the sixth-largest saltwater lake on Earth with a surface area of approximately 5,200 km2. It was sliced in half in 2008 and now the lake has shrunk to barely 10% of its original size due to several reasons.
Climate change has intensified droughts and raised summer temperatures that in turn precipitate evaporation. And this is only part of the problem. Water experts say damming of rivers that flow into the lake, exploitation of groundwater resources and digging of thousands of wells in the surrounding areas for farming are the other key factors contributing to its desiccation.
The lake’s shrinkage will increase the frequency of salt storms that sweep across the lakebed, diminishing the productivity of agricultural lands and force farmers to migrate. Poor air, land, and water quality, experts warn, are having a negative effect on the health and livelihood of large numbers of the population in many countries.
