Azerbaijan, Baku, Oct.26 / Trend F.Milad/
The Iranian government has allocated some $420 million to save the Urmiya Lake from dying, IRNA news agency quoted MP Mohammadreza Haji-Asghari as saying on Tuesday.
He added that the budget will be spent over three years.
"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," Urmiya lawmaker Javad Jahangirzadeh said earlier.
Iran's largest lake, Urmiya, 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 Urmiya 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.