Urmia Lake water level further up

The water level in Lake Urmia in northwestern Iran has witnessed a significant surge after recent downpours, the head of the catchment areas said.

Ahmad Ghandehari said on Sunday, “Currently, the level of Lake Urmia has reached 1,270.53 meters, its area has expanded to 1,790 square kilometers, and its volume is 2.34 billion cubic meters.”

Despite the unfavorable rainfall in the catchment area in the first 6 months of the year, about 200 million cubic meters of water was released from the dams of the catchment area to the lake and its satellite wetlands, he added.

However, with the increase in downpours in the catchment area of the receding lake in the second half of the year and the release of the water rights from upstream dams, the lake is in a better condition.

Lake Urmia was one once the world’s 6th saltwater lake and the biggest of its kind in West Asia, but due to unsustainable water consumption by farmers in the region and climate change it is feared that the lake will be drying up.

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