TEHRAN (Iran News) –The governor of the northwestern Iranian province of West Azarbaijan said on Tuesday that water has been released into receding Lake Urmia two months earlier than the previous years.

The post Iran releases water into shrinking Lake Urmia appeared first on Iran News Daily.

Lake Urmia in the northwestern West Azarbaijan province started to dry up in the 2000s. The lake is the largest lake in West Asia and the sixth-largest Salt Lake in the world with a water surface area of 5,000 to 6,000 square kilometers.

Providas pointed out that the Japanese government, as the financial sponsor of the project, continues to provide aid.

“Over the past 10 years, Japan has made generous contributions to the global plan to protect Iran’s wetlands and has contributed one million dollars annually, which is quite acceptable,” he said.

He continued: “In the last 5 years, Iran has tried different strategies to save Lake Urmia and has been trying to find out whether it should follow the same previous methods to restore the lake or it needs to try out new solutions.”

“During the last decade, the financial aid of the Japanese government has protected Iran’s wetlands and this plan has had some achievements. However, it should be noted that Japan’s aid by itself was not expected to save Iran’s wetlands or even Lake Urmia,” he added.

Promoting smart farming

Providas went on to say optimizing water consumption in the agricultural sector and promoting smart farming plays a key role in supplying the water needed to restore Lake Urmia.

It is extremely needed to be implemented in areas around Lake Urmia. Studies have shown that by improving irrigation methods in the villages around the lake, it is possible to save up to 30 percent of agricultural water consumption without reducing the amount of crop production.

Also, by improving farming techniques and crop rotation, it is possible to save up to 40 percent in agricultural water consumption in this area.

Lake Urmia revival plan

As the first project to revive the Lake, the construction of a tunnel with a length of 36 kilometers to transfer water from the Dam to the Lake started in 2015, IRNA reported.

Some 35 trillion rials (about $70 million) have been spent on the project.

In the first phase, 300 million cubic meters of water are projected to enter Lake Urmia every year.

The second phase is going to come on stream in the current Iranian calendar year, ending March 2024, increasing the volume of water to 600 million cubic meters.

The wastewater treatment plant of the city of Urmia, as the second project aimed at reviving Lake Urmia, will come on stream in the near future.

Once the project is inaugurated, 51 million cubic meters of treated wastewater will be transferred to Lake Urmia, Mohammad-Sadeq Motamedian, the governor-general of West Azarbaijan province and the secretary of the national working group for Lake Urmia restoration, said, IRIB reported.

This important project started in the calendar year 1394 (March 2015-March 2016) but stopped in the year 1399 (March 2020-March 2021) due to financial problems, he explained.

Some 5 trillion rials (about $10 million) have been recently earmarked for speeding up the implementation of the Lake Urmia revival plan.

The lake is designated for the List of Wetlands of International Importance, Ramsar Site, as well as a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve, which is a protected area with the aim of conserving nature and culture in the region and community development.

Protecting wetlands

According to a report released on July 18th, the plan to protect wetlands has reduced water consumption by up to 27 percent, helping sustainable agriculture around Lake Urmia.

The unique characteristics of wetlands, including groundwater control, climate change adaptation, the livelihood of local communities through fishing, livestock grazing and agriculture, natural water purification, purification and absorption of pollutants, and nature tourism have made sustainable management and protection of wetlands essential for humans, Jaleh Amini, an official with the Department of Environment has said.

In this line, comprehensive management plans have been prepared for 44 wetlands in the country.

Therefore, the DOE determined water rights for 11 wetlands out of 25 wetlands that are registered in the Ramsar Convention, but the conditions of the wetlands show that the water rights have not been fully met.

The Convention on Wetlands is an intergovernmental treaty that provides the framework for the conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources.

The post Financial aid to restore Lake Urmia not affected by sanctions: UNDP rep appeared first on Iran News Daily.

The consumption of chemical fertilizers has also been reduced by 25-40 percent, IRNA reported.

The unique characteristics of wetlands, including groundwater control, climate change adaptation, the livelihood of local communities through fishing, livestock grazing and agriculture, natural water purification, purification and absorption of pollutants, and nature tourism have made sustainable management and protection of wetlands essential for humans, Jaleh Amini, an official with the Department of Environment has said.

In this line, comprehensive management plans have been prepared for 44 wetlands in the country.

Therefore, the DOE determined water rights for 11 wetlands out of 25 wetlands that are registered in the Ramsar Convention, but the conditions of the wetlands show that the water rights have not been fully met.

The Convention on Wetlands is an intergovernmental treaty that provides the framework for the conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources.

Lake Urmia in the northwestern West Azarbaijan province started to dry up in the 2000s.

The lake is the largest lake in West Asia and the sixth-largest Salt Lake in the world with a water surface area of 5,000 to 6,000 square kilometers.

As the first project to revive the Lake, the construction of a tunnel with a length of 36 kilometers to transfer water from the Dam to the Lake started in 2015, IRNA reported.

Some 35 trillion rials (about $70 million) have been spent on the project.

In the first phase, 300 million cubic meters of water are projected to enter Lake Urmia every year.

The second phase is going to come on stream in the current Iranian calendar year that started on March 21, increasing the volume of water to 600 million cubic meters.

The wastewater treatment plant of the city of Urmia, as the second project aimed at reviving Lake Urmia, will come on stream in the near future.

Once the project is inaugurated, 51 million cubic meters of treated wastewater will be transferred to Lake Urmia, Mohammad- Sadeq Motamedian, the governor-general of West Azarbaijan province and the secretary of the national working group for Lake Urmia restoration, said, IRIB reported.

This important project started in the calendar year 1394 (March 2015-March 2016) but stopped in the year 1399 (March 2020-March 2021) due to financial problems, he explained.

Some 5 trillion rials (about $10 million) have been recently earmarked for speeding up the implementation of the Lake Urmia revival plan.

The lake is designated for the List of Wetlands of International Importance, Ramsar Site, as well as a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve, which is a protected area with the aim of conserving nature and culture in the region and community development.

Based on the studies and according to the statement of the Lake Urmia Restoration Program, 18 percent of the drying was due to climate change and 82 percent was due to the mismanagement of water resources in the catchment area, Somayeh Rafiei, a member of the Majlis (Iranian Parliament), has said.

The post Wetlands protection helps sustainable agriculture around Lake Urmia appeared first on Iran News Daily.

The construction of a tunnel with a length of 36 kilometers to transfer water from the Kanisib Dam to Lake Urmia started in 2015, IRNA reported.

Some 35 trillion rials (about $77 million) have been spent on the project.

In the first phase, 300 million cubic meters of water are projected to enter Lake Urmia every year.

The second phase that is going to come on stream in the next Iranian calendar year (starting March 21) will increase the volume of water to 600 million cubic meters.

Lake Urmia started to dry up in the 2000s, and although it revived at some point over the past few years, it is in serious danger these days.

The lake is the largest lake in West Asia and the sixth-largest Salt Lake in the world with a water surface area of 5,000 to 6,000 square kilometers.

Some 5 trillion rials (about $11 million) have been recently earmarked for speeding up the implementation of the Lake Urmia revival plan.

The lake is designated for the List of Wetlands of International Importance, Ramsar Site, as well as a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve, which is a protected area with the aim of conserving nature and culture in the region and community development.

However, the water in the lake has been decreasing during the past years. The water surface area shrank by approximately 80 percent of its (once-large) original size at the end of the dry season in 2013 and by approximately 70 percent at the end of the rainy season of the same year.

Restoration measures caused the level of Lake Urmia to reach 1278 meters in 1995 and 1274 meters in 2005 and finally, it stood at 1270 meters in 2015.

Based on the studies and according to the statement of the Lake Urmia Restoration Program, 18 percent of the drying was due to climate change and 82 percent was due to the mismanagement of water resources in the catchment area, Somayeh Rafiei, a member of the Majlis (Iranian Parliament), has said.

The water level of Lake Urmia was supposed to reach 1274.1 by 2028.

Researchers have realized that the situation of Lake Urmia in the last 20 years is not fully related to a lack of rainfall, which shows that the share of human factors has been higher.

Paleontological studies conducted by two Iranian researchers at the University of Miami on Lake Urmia show that even when the rainfall was 180 mm, the lake did not dry up, and this shows that the lake’s condition in recent years has been affected by human factors.

The share of natural factors in the drying of Lake Urmia is 31 percent, which includes an 18 percent decrease in rainfall and a 1.5-degree increase in temperature in the last two decades compared to the long term, and the share of human factors is 69 percent, which includes agricultural development and construction of dams and extraction from groundwater sources.

The amount of water consumption in the Urmia catchment area for the agricultural sector is 4,699 million cubic meters and the consumption for drinking, health, and industry is 588 million cubic meters.

The post Lake Urmia water transfer project inaugurated appeared first on Iran News Daily.

Located in northwest Iran, Lake Urmia is the largest lake in West Asia and the sixth-largest Salt Lake in the world with a water surface area of 5,000 to 6,000 square kilometers.

Rainfall in the catchment areas of Lake Urmia is also facing a decrease of about 47 millimeters, ISNA quoted Arezoo Ashrafizadeh, an official with the Department of Environment, as saying.

According to the announcement of the Meteorological Organization, since the beginning of winter, all six main catchment areas of the country are still facing a decrease in rainfall compared to normal conditions, she noted.

In West Azarbaijan province, from the beginning of the water year (September 23, 2022) till January 20, 2023, some 83 millimeters of rainfall was registered, which is a 43 percent decrease compared to last year and a 37 percent decrease compared to the long-term average, she explained.

Revival projects

Lake Urmia started to dry up in the 2000s, and although it revived at some point over the past few years, it is in serious danger these days.

The lake is designated for the List of Wetlands of International Importance, Ramsar Site, as well as a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve, which is a protected area with the aim of conserving nature and culture in the region and community development.

However, the water in the lake has been decreasing during the past years. The water surface area shrank by approximately 80 percent of its (once-large) original size at the end of the dry season in 2013 and by approximately 70 percent at the end of the rainy season of the same year.

Restoration measures caused the level of Lake Urmia to reach 1278 meters in 1995 and 1274 meters in 2005 and finally, it stood at 1270 meters in 2015.

Based on the studies and according to the statement of the Lake Urmia Restoration Program, 18 percent of the drying was due to climate change and 82 percent was due to the mismanagement of water resources in the catchment area, Somayeh Rafiei, a member of the Majlis (Iranian Parliament), has said.

The water level of Lake Urmia was supposed to reach 1274.1 by 2028.

Researchers have realized that the situation of Lake Urmia in the last 20 years is not fully related to a lack of rainfall, which shows that the share of human factors has been higher.

Paleontological studies conducted by two Iranian researchers at the University of Miami on Lake Urmia show that even when the rainfall was 180 mm, the lake did not dry up, and this shows that the lake’s condition in recent years has been affected by human factors.

The share of natural factors in the drying of Lake Urmia is 31 percent, which includes an 18 percent decrease in rainfall and a 1.5-degree increase in temperature in the last two decades compared to the long term, and the share of human factors is 69 percent, which includes agricultural development and construction of dams and extraction from groundwater sources.

The amount of water consumption in the Urmia catchment area for the agricultural sector is 4,699 million cubic meters and the consumption for drinking, health, and industry is 588 million cubic meters.

MG

The post Lake Urmia shrinks despite precipitations appeared first on Iran News Daily.

The water transfer plans, costing 60 trillion rials (nearly $187 million), are to be completed and put into operation over the next six months, IRIB quoted Mojtaba Zoljudi as saying on Tuesday.

Eliciting people’s participation, managing water resources, increasing agricultural productivity, and examining and diagnosing the previous government’s projects are other plans of the government to revive this lake, he explained.

This is while, Hessam Ahmadi Birgani, an environmental professor at Urmia University said that the restoration of Lake Urmia is unlikely in the current conditions.

When water is lost, sand and salt flats increase, and at the same time, many organisms living in the lake are lost, and migratory birds no longer come to this area, so the marine ecosystem is destroyed, he lamented.

7 years of conservation

Lake Urmia started to dry up in the 2000s, and although it revived at some point over the past few years, it is in serious danger these days.

Lake Urmia, located in northwest Iran, is the largest lake in West Asia and the sixth-largest Salt Lake in the world with a water surface area of 5,000 to 6,000 km2. The lake is designated for the List of Wetlands of International Importance, Ramsar Site, as well as a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve, which is a protected area with the aim of conserving nature and culture in the region and community development.

The water transfer plans, costing 60 trillion rials ($187 million), are to be completed over the next six months.However, the water in the lake has been decreasing during the past years. The water surface area shrank by approximately 80 percent of its (once-large) original size at the end of the dry season in 2013 and by approximately 70 percent at the end of the rainy season of the same year.

Restoration measures caused the level of Lake Urmia to reach 1278 meters in 1995 and 1274 meters in 2005 and finally, it stood at 1270 meters in 2015.

After 7 years and spending about $4 billion, the condition of Lake Urmia was returned to its first point, Somayeh Rafiei, a member of the Majlis (Iranian Parliament) said.

Based on the studies and according to the statement of the Lake Urmia Restoration Program, 18 percent of the drying was due to climate change and 82 percent was due to the mismanagement of water resources in the catchment area, she lamented.

The water level of Lake Urmia was supposed to reach 1274.1 by 2028. Currently, the last level of the Lake on July 10th was estimated at 1270.57, which means that it is only 53 cm higher than the minimum level of November 2015, she explained.

According to experts’ forecasts, evaporation will continue in Lake Urmia until the end of September, and the water level will reach the level of the first day of the Lake Urmia restoration project, and the south of the lake will be completely dry, she lamented.

The post Govt. to complete Lake Urmia restoration plans appeared first on Iran News Daily.

Lake Urmia, located in northwest Iran, is the largest lake in the Middle East and the sixth-largest Salt Lake in the world with a water surface area of 5,000 to 6,000 km2. The lake is designated for the List of Wetlands of International Importance, Ramsar Site, as well as a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve, which is a protected area with the aim of conserving nature and culture in the region and community development.

However, the water in the lake has been decreasing during the past years. The water surface area shrank by approximately 80 percent of its (once-large) original size at the end of the dry season in 2013 and by approximately 70 percent at the end of the rainy season of the same year.

Restoration measures caused the level of Lake Urmia to reach 1278 meters in 1995 and 1274 meters in 2005 and finally, it stood at 1270 meters in 2015.

After 7 years and spending about $4 billion, the condition of Lake Urmia was returned to its first point, Somayeh Rafiei, member of the Majlis (Iranian Parliament) said.

Based on the studies and according to the statement of the Lake Urmia Restoration Program, 18 percent of the drying was due to climate change and 82 percent was due to the mismanagement of water resources in the catchment area, she lamented.

The water level of Lake Urmia was supposed to reach 1274.1 by 2028. Currently, the last level of the Lake on July 10th was estimated at 1270.57, which means that it is only 53 cm higher than the minimum level of November 2015, she explained.

According to experts’ forecasts, evaporation will continue in Lake Urmia until the end of September, and the water level will reach the level of the first day of the Lake Urmia restoration project, and the south of the lake will be completely dry, she lamented.

Human factors’ share of 69% 

Paleontological studies conducted by two Iranian researchers at the University of Miami on Lake Urmia show that even when the rainfall was 180 mm, the lake did not dry up, and this shows that the lake’s condition in recent years has been affected by human factors.

Researchers realized that the situation of Lake Urmia in the last 20 years is not fully related to lack of rainfall, which shows that the share of human factors has been higher.

The share of natural factors in the drying of Lake Urmia is 31 percent, which includes an 18 percent decrease in rainfall and a 1.5-degree increase in temperature in the last two decades compared to the long term, and the share of human factors is 69 percent, which includes agricultural development and construction of dams and extraction from groundwater sources.

The amount of water consumption in the Urmia catchment area for the agricultural sector is 4699 million cubic meters and the consumption for drinking, health, and industry is 588 million cubic meters.

Threats to the shrinking lake

The phenomenon of the dramatically shrinking lake has diminished tourism, water transportation, and fisheries industries, and destroyed a wide range of wildlife habitats in the region.

According to the Department of Environment (DOE) in West Azerbaijan Province, salty dust that is blown from the dried lake bed in wind or “Salt Storm” negatively affect agricultural crops and is menacing to human health in adjacent areas, and some village in East Azerbaijan Province has already been abandoned by its people due to salinization of groundwater.

Expansion of farmlands, population growth, dam construction, and extraction of groundwater through tens of thousands of illegal wells are among the main anthropogenic causes. Importantly, it has been said that irrigation water accounts for approximately 90 percent of all extracted water from the Lake Urmia Basin.

The post Lake Urmia in grave peril appeared first on Iran News Daily.

A memorandum of Understanding was signed between the Iranian Wetlands Conservation Project and the Department of Environment (DOE), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), and the Government of Japan to implement Lake Urmia restoration achievements on Bakhtegan and Shadegan wetlands from 2021 to 2024.

By using the capacity built and the lessons learned, the new project will be scaled up to additional pilots, including Bakhtegan Wetland, Ahmad Reza Lahijanzadeh, deputy chief of the DOE for the marine environment, said.

In recent years, with the heterogeneous development of agriculture, dams, and water transfer to desert areas, the conditions for wetlands in the country have become unsuitable. Successful experience of public participation in Lake Urmia revival was formed in three provinces of West Azarbaijan, East Azarbaijan, and Kordestan, he explained.

It is hoped that with the cooperation of all related bodies, Bakhtegan Wetland will be able to independently receive international credits and financial resources, he further stated.

The main problem of Bakhtegan Wetland is the lack of proper planning for available water resources. Although drought and climate change have also been influential, the need for livelihood change, especially in the agricultural sector, is felt to reduce dependence on water resources, Hamid Zohrabi, provincial DOE chief said.

Bakhtegan is a Salt Lake with a surface area of 3,500 square kilometers it was once Iran’s second-largest lake. It was fed by the Kor River. Several dams on the river had significantly reduced water flow into the lake, increasing its salinity and endangering the lake’s populations of flamingos and other migratory birds.

Valuable wetlands

Wetlands play a major role in protecting the land against floods and the impacts of storms. They provide food and diverse habitats which support genetic, species, and ecosystem biodiversity. Wetlands play a key role in the life cycles of many species and in annual migration patterns.

Unfortunately, wetlands are being degraded and lost due to pollution, overexploitation, climate change, and human population growth. In recognition of these challenges, the Ramsar Convention, an international treaty, was adopted in 1971.

In Iran, 141 wetlands with ecological value with an area of over 3 million hectares have been identified, of which 25 wetlands are designated as wetlands of international importance (registered in the Ramsar Convention) covering more than 1.4 million hectares and four sites are biosphere reserves.

Of Iran’s 25 Ramsar sites about one-third are under pressure or in critical condition.

Chief of the Department of Environment, Issa Kalantari, has said in order to restore wetlands in the country a budget of 600 trillion rials (nearly $14 billion) is required.

The post Lake Urmia restoration prescribed for Bakhtegan Wetland appeared first on Iran News Daily.

So far, 9 species of Artemia have been registered in the world, he said, adding, one of the most important species of Artemia is “Artemia Urmiana”, which lives in Lake Urmia, he said.

Natural conditions and infrastructure for farming Artemia in Lake Urmia are available but it is not exploited, Zaker noted, IRNA reported on Sunday.

By cultivating Artemia in the country, not only a considerable amount of foreign currency can be saved, but millions of dollars of foreign exchange can enter the country by exporting it, he also highlighted.

Emphasizing the need to breed Artemia in the country and support the private sector in this regard, Zaker said that artificial breeding of Artemia in the southern part of the country should also be considered.

Each kilogram of medium quality Artemia is about 35 million rials (nearly $833,000) and it was claimed that exploiting the full capacity of the species in Lake Urmia could make West Azerbaijan independent of the government budget, he stated.

Iran is now one of the importers of Artemia; According to the assessment of the average capacity of Lake Urmia in 2019, the reserves of Lake Urmia in normal conditions, in addition to meeting domestic needs, can lead to the annual export of 180 tons of cysts and 120 tons of live Artemia to other countries.

Artemia

Artemia is a genus of aquatic crustaceans also known as brine shrimp. The first historical record of the existence of Artemia dates back to the first half of the 10th century AD from Lake Urmia, with an example called by an Iranian geographer an “aquatic dog”, although the first unambiguous record is the report and drawings made by Schlösser in 1757 of animals from Lymington, England.

Artemia populations are found worldwide in inland saltwater lakes, but not in oceans. Artemia is able to avoid cohabiting with most types of predators, such as fish, by their ability to live in waters of very high salinity (up to 25%).

The ability of Artemia to produce dormant eggs, known as cysts, has led to extensive use of Artemia in aquaculture. The cysts may be stored for long periods and hatched on demand to provide a convenient form of live feed for larval fish and crustaceans.

Nauplii of the brine shrimp Artemia constitute the most widely used food item, and over 2000 tons of dry Artemia cysts are marketed worldwide annually. In addition, the resilience of Artemia makes them ideal animals for running biological toxicity assays and it has become a model organism used to test the toxicity of chemicals. Breeds of Artemia are sold as novelty gifts under the marketing name Sea-Monkeys or Aqua Dragons.

The post a multi-million dollar source of income in Lake Urmia appeared first on Iran News Daily.

During the last seven years, 98 percent of the restoration progress is done, and the Lake will reach its ecological level by March 2022.

In an online ceremony attended by President Hassan Rouhani on Monday, the Lake Urmia futurology center was inaugurated.

In addition, environmental projects worth 9.2 trillion rials (nearly $220 million at the official rate of 42,000 rials) were unveiled. Accordingly, 13 construction projects, including environmental water demand studies for 21 wetlands and rivers in the country, came on stream.

Lake Urmia futurology center opened with the aim of using scientific and technical capacities at the local, national, and international levels, facilitation, and coordination between departments, presenting and expanding successful models of coexistence with Lake Urmia and sustainable use of its resources with public participation, raising awareness of all stakeholders about their environmental rights and responsibilities and increasing public sensitivity and participation.

Lake level declines

Shared between West Azarbaijan and East Azarbaijan provinces in northwestern Iran, Lake Urmia, was once the largest salt-water lake in West Asia. It was home to many migratory and indigenous animals including flamingos, pelicans, egrets, and ducks, and attracted hundreds of tourists every year who had bathed in the water to take advantage of the therapeutic properties of the lake.

However, decades of long-standing drought spells and elevated hot summer temperatures that speed up evaporation as well as increased water demands in the agriculture sector shrank the lake drastically. In 1999 the volume of water which was at 30 billion cubic meters drastically decreased to half a billion cubic meters in 2013. Moreover, the lake surface area of 5,000 square kilometers in 1997 shrunk to one-tenth of that to 500 square kilometers in 2013.

Lake’s surface area has reached up to 2,917 square kilometers, indicating 1,582 square kilometers increase in comparison to 2013 when the Lake Urmia Restoration Program began.

The level of Lake Urmia has reached 1,271 meters, which indicates an increase of over 1.39 meters compared to the lowest volume recorded. However, it still needs 9.5 billion cubic meters of water to reach its ecological level.

The above normal levels of rain came to help conservation measures to preserve Lake Urmia, but, this year, the drought and low rainfall are threatening the lake again.

This is while the water level of Lake Urmia has decreased by 30 centimeters in the first three months of the current [Iranian calendar] year (March 21-June 21) compared to the same period last year.

Due to the decrease in rainfall over the last two years, this catchment is experiencing a decrease in water level again, Ali Soltanpour, director of the hydrography of the National Cartographic Center said in July.

The post Some $3.5b spent on Lake Urmia revitalization appeared first on Iran News Daily.