“Lake Urmia is dying faster than Rouhani’s government”

Lake Urmia is dying a death faster than Rouhani’s government, according to Western Azerbaijan Member of Parliament Ruhollah Beigi. 

Lake Urmia, which spreads from Western Azerbaijan, a province in northwestern Iran, to Eastern Azerbaijan, is the largest lake in the Middle East and the sixth largest saltwater lake in the world. Environmental campaigners have long called for authorities to protect it, as it is home to a wide range of wildlife and bird colonies. It was also once a popular destination because of the lake’s thick mud, which was believed to have restorative properties. 

In recent years, however, the lake has shrunk due to bad management, including the development of a causeway and badly designed and executed dams and wells, both of which had an enormous impact on water flow.

“Right now, we have 40,000 unemployed university graduates living in West Azerbaijan,” Beigi told a gathering, according to the Zarrin Khabar website. "So if Lake Urmia isn’t revived, we’ll have a huge number of unemployed people in the province.”

“If the lake goes completely dry, the region will suffer from a salt tsunami and the 44,000 people who make their living through farming in the area will also be unemployed,” he explained to his audience. “Lake Urmia is a national problem and not just a local one.”

According to Iranian officials, 93 percent of Lake Urmia had dried up as of April 2014 and salinity levels have dramatically increased, a situation that is disastrous for the wildlife that once thrived there — it was once home to 22 species of mammal and hosted between 40,000 and 50,000 flamingos during their annual migration.

The issue is documented in “Is Lake Urmia Dead?” a documentary by IranWire colleague Ala Mohseni, which explores the destruction of Urmia, one of Iran’s most treasured wildlife habitats, looking back to the time that this vast saltwater lake was a sanctuary for birds, yellow deer and cheetahs, as well as a popular spot for tourism, thereby providing jobs and a source of income for local residents.  Chronicling the damage caused by dire mismanagement and neglect, the film describes Lake Urmia as a “slaughterhouse” and mourns the loss of this vital ecosystem.

Reviving the lake was one of President Rouhani’s campaign promises. However, just recently, it was reported by Isa Kalantari, Secretary for the Lake Urmia Revival Headquarters, that the lake’s water level has dropped to nine centimeters when in past years it was at 40 centimeters.

Kalantari said Iran’s Environmental Protection Agency and a lack of rainfall and high temperatures were behind the recent drop.

 “Lake Urmia is drying up due to mismanagement mainly. The Environmental Protection Agency is responsible for the lake and it has failed to protect it,” Kalantari said. “And it is farmers who are the victims of the lake’s environmental erosion. They will lose their livelihoods and their farms as a result.”

It is thought that if Lake Urmia dries up, it will cause significant health risks, including an increase in pulmonary and other diseases in the area. Health officials have established links between diseases and the deterioration of the lake’s ecosystem, in particular due to a rise in sandstorms that cause respiratory diseases.

As recently as July, officials in Eastern Azarbaijan issued new warnings about the health risks of living in the province’s Lake Urmia region, where environmental and health experts continue to record dangerous levels of salt particles in the air. 

Since the lake began to dry out and its shores have receded, illegal salt mining has also thrived; a business that has caused added environmental damage to the lake.

Read the original article in Persian

Related Articles: 

Illegal Salt Mining at Lake Urmia

Is Lake Urmia Dead?

Lake Urmia Threatens Human Rights

New Health Warnings for Lake Urmia