"The water in the Caspian Sea has decreased by the equivalent of 12 full-flowing Lake Urmia"
The head of Iran's Mapping Organization said that the water level of the Caspian Sea has decreased by four centimeters in the past two years and by one meter in the past 10 years. According to the Iranian official, the decrease in the Caspian Sea's water level is due to a decrease in rainfall and water inflow from rivers.
Masoud Shafiei, head of the Iranian Mapping Organization, announced at a press conference in Tehran on Sunday, September 16, that the water level of the Caspian Sea has decreased by one meter over the past decade, and that the decrease in the Caspian Sea water is 380 square kilometers, equivalent to 12 Lake Urmia at its peak.
Shafiei said that the trend of decreasing Caspian water will continue, according to data received monthly from this area.
Reason for the decrease in Caspian water
The head of Iran's Mapping Organization has cited the lack of rainfall, the reduction in water inflow from rivers, and especially the reduction in water from the Volga basin in Russia, as the most important factors in the decline in the Caspian Sea's water level.
Iranian media had previously reported that Russia has been heavily withdrawing water from the Volga River, the main supplier of water to the Caspian Sea, in recent years. The Volga River supplies 75 percent of the Caspian Sea's water, and heavy withdrawals and dam construction on the river for drinking and agricultural purposes have contributed to the decrease in water in the Caspian Sea.
Caspian experts warn that as the sea level recedes, the piers will lose their effectiveness and the ships that dock next to them will run aground. In this case, either the coastal areas will have to be dredged to increase the depth of the sea, or the length of the piers will have to be increased, both of which will be very difficult and expensive to do.
But some local experts believe that the decline in the Caspian Sea's water level is periodic and temporary, and that climate change and warming have caused greater evaporation and a drop in the Caspian Sea's water level.
Source: DW
