Iran Press/Iran news: The water level of Lake Urmia in the northwestern province of East Azarbaijan has increased to 5 billion cubic meters, head of the provincial committee for the restoration of the unique Salty Water spot said on Saturday May 11.
Khalil Saei talking to journalists in Urmia said :"Following the revival plans, we are witnessing revival to the lake".
He added: "Due to recent rainfalls and the measures taken by the Revival Committee, the water balance in Lake Urmia on May 11 reached over 1,271 meters, which shows an increase of 1.05 centimeter compared to last year", Iran Press reported.
"The rising water level and the volume of water have very significant positive impact on the community and have increased the activities of people living around it," added the provincial official.
Lake Urmia, a Salt Lake, which once had a surface area of 5,000 square kilometers (almost 2,000sq miles) shrank to just 700sq km in 2013. The reasons were prolonged drought.
Situated in the mountains of northwest Iran, Lake Urmia is fed by 13 rivers and designated as a site of international importance under the UN Convention on Wetlands that was signed in the Iranian city of Ramsar in 1971.
The volume of water at the lake in 1997 measured at 30 billion cubic meters which dramatically decreased to 2.5 billion cubic meters in 2017.
As Urmia came back from 700 to 2,000 sq km, the rains increased in the fall of 2018 and then intensified in March.
Now Urmia’s surface is close to 3,000 sq km and water level has increased by 59 centimetres or two feet compared with 2013, according to the governor.
It is one of the worst ecological disasters of recent decades, but the shrinking of Iran's great Lake Urmia finally appears to be stabilising and Lake is at the start of revival.105/205
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