Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr.21
By Fatih Karimov - Trend:
A new package of proposals to save Lake Urmia, in north-west Iran, will be submitted to the Iranian administration by early June.
Issa Kalantari, the secretary of the working group tasked with Lake Urmia's revival, said that 19 solutions had been proposed earlier to save the lake, but they proved to be impractical, Iran's ISNA news agency reported on April 21.
So, a new package of proposals, which is science-based and practical, will be submitted to the administration, he added.
However, some 12 years will take to restore the lake, he noted.
Lake Urmia in north-west Iran is experiencing its worst drought in many years, where over 70 percent of its water has dried up. The level has been declining since 1995.
Officials have said if the current restoration efforts are not effective, the lake will be turned into a swamp within four years. Previous reports said Lake Urmia needs 3.1 billion cubic meters of water per year to survive.
Lake Urmia is the third largest salt water lake on earth with a surface area of approximately 5,200 square kilometers.
Iran has allocated 220 billion rials (about $8.9 million) to the revival of Lake Urmia in the next Iranian calendar year, which starts on March 21, the Mehr News Agency quoted head of Iran's Environmental Protection Organization, Masoumeh Ebtekar as saying on February 6.
She added that a final approach to save the lake will be declared by the end of spring. The organization will then start its action plans regarding the revival of the lake.