1.5 billion cubic meters of water was transferred from dams to restore Lake Urmia
Referring to the implementation of Lake Urmia restoration projects, the CEO of the West Azerbaijan Regional Water Company said that about 1.571 billion cubic meters of water has been transferred from nearby dams to Lake Urmia.
According to IRNA, Kiyomars Daneshjo, CEO of the West Azerbaijan Regional Water Company, said on Sunday, June 11, that this amount of water was directed to Lake Urmia from the Bukan, Shahrchay Urmia dams, Mahabad dam, Hassanloi Naqadeh, Zola Salmas, and Sarogh Takab dams, with the largest amount coming from the Bukan dam.
In recent years, Lake Urmia has been drying up due to reduced rainfall, dam construction, and excessive groundwater extraction.
When Hassan Rouhani's first government was formed, it promised to save this lake from death.
According to government officials, the participation of domestic and foreign experts, combating unauthorized groundwater extraction, releasing adjacent waters, dredging rivers, and efforts to optimize agricultural water use are among the measures taken to prevent Lake Urmia from drying up.
The CEO of the West Azerbaijan Regional Water Company further stated that in the past two years, more than 350 kilometers of rivers in this province have been dredged.
According to him, with the opening of the Silveh Dam and the Jaldian Water Canal in Piranshahr, it is expected that hundreds of millions of cubic meters of water will be transferred to the Lake Urmia basin annually. The dam and canal were opened in May of this year.
Meanwhile, according to Parviz Arasteh, Director General of Environmental Protection of West Azerbaijan, this year, rainfall in the Lake Urmia basin has decreased by 28 percent compared to last year.
The Director General of Environmental Protection of West Azerbaijan said: "Despite this decrease, the area of this water area has increased from 730 square kilometers in 2013 to 2,563 square kilometers, which has resulted in Lake Urmia currently having 2 billion 590 million cubic meters of water."
The news reports that the water level of Lake Urmia has decreased this year due to the decrease in rainfall.
Hojjat Jabbari, technical deputy head of the General Department of Environment of West Azerbaijan Province, also announced on Sunday that "the level of Lake Urmia has decreased somewhat due to warming weather and high evaporation," which, according to him, "is a natural phenomenon in the spring."
He said that as of last week, the lake's water level had reached 1,270.99 meters above the open water level, and this week it is expected that "this level will decrease by 7 centimeters due to heat and evaporation."
Officials have expressed hope that Lake Urmia will reach its ecological balance by 1402 (2023 AH).
According to published reports, flamingos have not migrated from Lake Urmia this year due to the relative improvement of the lake.
Source: Radio Farda
