Will the autumn rains remove “Lake Urmia” from critical conditions?

According to the social reporter of Moj news agency, the conditions Lake Urmia “The situation has become critical like last fall, and despite the transfer of water from the Zab tunnel, intense evaporation in the summer season and the lack of full payment of the Urmia lake, the risk of it drying up has increased.

Despite the emphasis of the Environmental Protection Organization on the need to reduce the area under cultivation in the catchment area of ​​Lake Urmia, the area under cultivation has reached more than 600 thousand hectares! The conversion of rainfed lands to irrigated lands and agricultural lands to orchards continues, and blocking of unauthorized wells has not been done.

The level of Lake Urmia has reached its lowest level in recent years and is not in good condition at all. To restore the lake, it was necessary to carry out 27 measures, including reducing agricultural water in the Urmia catchment area up to 40%, transferring the waste water from Urmia and Tabriz water treatment plants, reducing the area under cultivation of sugar beet, etc., but this did not happen.

Unfavorable conditions of Lake Urmia started in the late 70s and these conditions are influenced by natural factors such as drought and decrease in rainfall and human factors such as lack of environmental protection of the lake, dam construction, construction of Shahid Kalantari Bridge without considering environmental considerations, increase in cultivated area. And… it has escalated and caused Lake Urmia to be in the worst condition in its history.

Different governments have taken measures in the form of software (creating sustainable alternative livelihoods for farmers, etc.) and hardware (water supply projects, construction of water treatment plant and water transmission lines, etc.) to restore Lake Urmia, but when the results of these measures We look and realize that despite spending heavy expenses and even attracting financial aid from international organizations, practically no action has been taken.

Although Lake Urmia is now less alive than ever, there is still hope to revive it and prevent 100% drying up. The hope of reviving Urmia comes from here, as climate forecasts show a 60% increase in rainfall in the country, especially in the current autumn and winter.

According to Mojtaba Zuljudi, deputy marine environment officer of the Environmental Protection Organization, long-term climate forecasts, which are 65% accurate, predict that rainfall will increase in the Urmia Lake watershed.

Also, in another comment, Ahad Tazifi, the head of the National Climate and Drought Crisis Management Center of the National Meteorological Organization, said that the rainfall in the second half of autumn and the first half of winter will be normal and above normal.

In addition to the comments of national officials; WHO (World Meteorological Organization) forecasts also confirm these data and emphasize the significant increase in rainfall in Iran.

This case shows that although the recovery of Lake Urmia is becoming more difficult day by day, if the intensification of rainfall is done by releasing the water from Lake Urmia (at the rate of 3 billion cubic meters per year) as well as the transfer of water from the treatment plants of Urmia and Tabriz, we can expect A big step should be taken in the path of reviving Lake Urmia, and with the continuation of this process, we will once again see Urmia full of water and life-giving in about 5 years.