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No water transfer from Caspian Sea to Iran ’s Lake Urmia till removal of environmental concerns

Society Materials 28 July 2015 17:04 (UTC +04:00)
Iran will not start transferring water from the Caspian Sea to revive drying Lake Urmia, as long as the environmental concerns on the project are not removed, Energy Minister Hamid Chitchian said.
No water transfer from Caspian Sea to Iran ’s Lake Urmia till removal of environmental concerns

Baku, Azerbaijan, July 28

By Umid Niayesh - Trend:

Iran will not start transferring water from the Caspian Sea to revive drying Lake Urmia, as long as the environmental concerns on the project are not removed, Energy Minister Hamid Chitchian said.

He made the remarks during an open session in the parliament on July 28 while responding to the MPs questions on the ministry's measures to revive the lake.

Chitchian emphasized that there is no delay in the implementation of the energy ministry's announced plans to restore the lake, Iran 's official IRIB news agency reported.

Lake Urmia, located in northwest Iran is experiencing its worst drought in many years, where over 90 percent of its area has dried up. The level has been declining since 1995. Officials have warned if serious steps are not taken, the lake will be turned into a swamp within a few years, which will force millions of Iranians to migrate to greener pastures.

It was earlier announced that the Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA) would carry out environmental studies of transferring water from the Caspian Sea to Lake Urmia.

Chitchian underlined the purpose of stabilization of the lake's water level is achieved thanks to the administration's measures.

The drying process is halted and the water reduction has decreased from 2.5 billion cubic meters per year in 2007 to 100 million cubic meters in 2014, the minister said.

While commenting on the administration plans to restore the lake, Chitchian said that the government has allocated 45 million euro to transfer water from the Zab River to Lake Urmia.

Dredging the rivers flowing into the lake as well as transferring water from some dams to the lake and imposing limits on water consumption in the agriculture sector in the lake's catchments are among the programs to revive the lake, he added.

Previous reports said Lake Urmia needs 3.1 billion cubic meters of water per year to survive.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani set up a working group for saving Lake Urmia , the Committee for Urmia Lake Restoration.

The committee prepared a 9-year plan to restore the lake, with 2023 being the year targeted for the lake's complete restoration.

However, some Iranian experts believe that the most efficient measures in reviving the lake such as prohibiting unauthorized use of surface and groundwater, limiting groundwater use by local farmers and transferring water from other catchments including the Araz River are impractical and will lead to serious social tensions.

Edited by CN

Follow the author on Twitter: @UmidNiayesh

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