Farhad Sarkhosh told reporters during his official visit to a project meant to fill part of the lake with treated wastewater product (agricultural water fitting irrigation) on Tuesday that an estimated 50 million cubic meters of treated wastewater would enter the lake; “by 2021, the estimated amount of water should exceed 300 million cubic meters,” he added.
Mr. Sarkhosh said that the attempt was part of a master plan to channel treated waters of great metropolitan cities of Tabriz and Urmia to fill the lake by 2020; connecting Zarrinehroud to Siminehroud, opening dam floodgates to allow water flow in the lake, and curbing illegal subterranean water usage along with dredging of rivers are among the measures to be taken in future years to meet the challenge of filling the lake,” he detailed.
“Major part of the project will start on October which we hope to raise the water level in the lake; cutting agricultural usage of water through modern practices of irrigation also would provide a solution,” Sarkhosh told the press.
In July 10, Lake Urmia level was 1270.90 meters above sea level, which has improved 60 centimeters compared to that in the same time last year; this is also an 82-meter improvement compared to that in September 22, 2015. Lake Urmia is world’s second endorheic lake which had largely been desiccated during last two decades due to mismanagement of water resources and general drought. Only 10 per cent of its huge surface area of 5700 square kilometers still exist; despite initially hope-inspiring precipitations of 2016, the lake still experiences critical conditions. Total sum of water of the lake was estimated to be 32 billion cubic meters. With an ecological level of 1274.1 meters above sea level, Lake Urmia is estimated to have only 14 billion cubic meters of water.
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