Azerbaijan , Baku, Sept. 5 /trend /
Iranian government approved the assignment of $900 million to protect Lake Orumiyeh from drying up. This amount has been granted to transfer water from rivers in the Aras and Kurdistan provinces to Lake Orumiyeh , IRIB reported, quoting Iran's Head of the Environmental Department Mohamad Javad Mohamadizadeh.
"The lake's disappearance would leave behind it a residue of 10 billion tons of salt, which threatens the lives of 14 million citizens around the lake," Orumiyeh lawmaker Javad Jahangirzadeh said earlier.
Iran's largest lake, Orumiyeh, dried up by almost one-third, the Director of the Iranian State Department for Lake Protection Ali Nazardust said earlier. Dams, rainfall shortages, and other negative factors have caused Lake Orumiyeh to dry up.
At present the lake's salinity level is at 330 percent, Nazardust said. Earlier the figure was 160-170 percent and the reservoir covered 5,000 square meters.