Water Flowing Into Lake Urmia

With programs to revive Urmia Lake making their mark, over six billion cubic meters of water from dams flowed into the world famous lake and is increasing, the Energy Minister said Thursday at a ceremony to inaugurate Oshnavieh Dam in northwest West Azarbaijan Province.
“The lake now is 1,271.8 meters above sea level. This level is 1.32 meters higher compared to five years ago when restoration measures started,” the Energy Ministry news website Paven quoted Reza Ardakanian as saying.
It spreads over 3,240 square kilometers, holding 5.25 billion cubic meters of water.
Close to $1 billion has been spent on Urmia Lake Restoration Program in the last five years.
Located between the provinces of East and West Azarbaijan, the lake is a closed water body fed through 21 permanent and 39 seasonal rivers.
Oshnaviyeh storage dam can hold 46 million cubic meters of water and most of its water is intended to be transferred to Urmia Lake.
It will also provide drinking water to Nalus, Oshnaviyeh, Mohammadyar, Naqadeh and the surrounding villages. A part of the dam water will be used for 1,000 hectares of farmlands.