1.5 Billion Cubic Meters of Water Transferred from Dams to Revive Lake Urmia
The CEO of the West Azerbaijan Regional Water Company, referring to the implementation of Lake Urmia restoration plans, states that approximately 1 billion and 571 million cubic meters of water has been transferred from adjacent dams to Lake Urmia.
According to IRNA, Kiumarth Daneshju, CEO of the West Azerbaijan Regional Water Company, said on Sunday, June 21, that this volume of water has been directed to Lake Urmia from the Boukan, Shahrchai Urmia, Mahabad, Hasanlu Noghdeh, Zolai Salmas, and Saroq Takab dams, with the largest volume coming from Boukan Dam.
In recent years, Lake Urmia has been drying up due to reduced rainfall, dam construction, and excessive groundwater extraction.
The first Hassan Rouhani administration had pledged at its inception to save this lake from destruction.
According to government officials, the participation of domestic and foreign experts, combating unauthorized groundwater extraction, releasing water from adjacent sources, dredging rivers, and efforts to optimize agricultural water consumption have been among the measures taken to prevent Lake Urmia from drying up.
The CEO of the West Azerbaijan Regional Water Company further stated that over 350 kilometers of rivers in the province have been dredged in the past two years.
According to him, with the opening of the Silweh Dam and Jaldian water canal in Piranshahr, it is expected that hundreds of millions of cubic meters of water annually will be transferred to the Lake Urmia basin. This dam and canal were inaugurated in Ordibehesht (April-May) of this year.
Meanwhile, according to Parviz Arasteih, Director General of Environmental Protection of West Azerbaijan, rainfall in the Lake Urmia watershed has decreased by 28 percent this year compared to last year.
The Director General of Environmental Protection of West Azerbaijan said: “Despite this decrease, the surface area of this water body has reached 2,563 square kilometers from 730 square kilometers in 2013, which has caused Lake Urmia to currently hold 2 billion and 590 million cubic meters of water.”
News reports indicate that this year, due to reduced rainfall, the water level of Lake Urmia has declined.
Hojjat Jabbari, Technical Deputy of the General Directorate of Environmental Protection of West Azerbaijan Province, also announced on Sunday that “the water level of Lake Urmia has somewhat decreased due to warm weather and excessive evaporation,” which according to him “is a natural phenomenon in the spring season.”
He said that until last week, the water level of the lake reached 1270.99 meters above sea level, and it is expected that “due to heat and evaporation, this level will decrease by up to 7 centimeters this week.”
Responsible officials have expressed hope that by 2023, Lake Urmia will reach its ecological level.
Based on published reports, this year flamingos have not migrated from Lake Urmia due to the relative improvement of the lake.
Source: Radio Farda
