Tehran, Iran, October 25
By Mehdi Sepahvand –- Trend:
Iran will be facing a $1T in damages if the country's Lake Urmia dries out completely, while its restoration will cost only $6-7 billion, according to Issa Kalantari, secretary of Staff on Lake Urmia Restoration, IRNA news agency reported October 25.
In the 1990s the lake’s water level has declined by seven meters to stand at 1,271.
According to Kalantari, warnings about unbridled use of the lake water were unheeded back then.
The restoration process kicked off when Hassan Rouhani's administration’s first decree passed in 2013. The government then planned to restore the lake in 10 years. A year later, the government passed the Restoration Staff’s plan which consisted of 27 projects.
Lake Urmia is in the northwest of Iran. Its area is about 6,000 square kilometers. Over 70 percent of Lake Urmia’s area has dried up. The lake needs 3.1 billion cubic meters of water per year to survive.
If the lake dries out completely, it will put the lives of 14 million people in danger of salt storms.