The head of the Iranian Province of West Azerbaijan's Environment
Agency said 70 percent of Lake Urmia (Orumiyeh) has dried up, Trend reports.
According to the ISNA news agency, Hassan Abbasnejad said the Iranian government started some
measures to revive Lake Urmia by cloud seeding, commissioning new
irrigation methods, etc. in the last solar year (which ended on 18 March 2011)
but the process is being carried out slowly.
"The main problem is lack of financing, now, 300,000 hectares of
lake has became salt land," he added.
Abbaszadeh said that Lake Urmia needs 3.1 billion cubic meters of
water per year to survive.
Illegal use of the water that flows into the lake for irrigation by the rural
population, construction of dams and illegal objects on its banks, are
also among the problems of Lake Urmia.
Each litre of water in Lake Urmia contains 330 grams of salt.
Previously, the figure stood at 160-170 grams per litre.
The Iranian government approved a $900 million finance bill to rescue the lake
from drought, but the process is being carried out slowly.
