The largest saltwater lake in the world sits in northwestern Iran, straddling the provinces of East and West Azerbaijan and was thought to have vanished for good, a casualty of Tehran’s ill-advised agriculture policies that poured its water reserves into self-sufficiency, depleting 1,000-year-old water reservoirs in the process. Lake Urmia was one of several water sources that shrank dramatically, losing 95 percent of its volume – 80 percent in the last 30 years alone.
In 2013, Tehran partnered with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in a plan funded by Japan to save the lake, a priority of President Hassan Rouhani. Last December, officials announced they had stopped the depletion trend of the lake and it was now on the road to recovery.
That recovery was given a welcome boost this year. After the heavy spring rains, “we are witnessing revival of the lake,” Khalil Saei, head of the provincial committee tasked with restoring the lake, said last weekend, IRNA reported.
The effects of a healthier lake are already visible among the communities that live on its shores, he added. “The rising water level and the volume of water have had a very significant positive impact on the community and have increased the activities of people living around it.”
Lake Urmia was once home to thriving shrimp, flamingo, pelican, and duck populations. It was also a popular draw for tourists eager to soak in its therapeutic waters. But as the shoreline receded further and further every year, it left behind a layer of salt that was whipped into the wind and polluted neighbouring farms and cities.
That damage will take a long time to reverse, cautioned environmental expert Kaveh Madani, striking a hopeful but less optimistic tone than the provincial official.
“Of course, we are very far from full restoration. With the help of recent rainfalls, the lake has obtained the status it had eight years ago but even then the lake was not healthy,” he told Rudaw English. Madani was formerly deputy head of Iran’s Department of the Environment and is now Henry Hart Rice Senior Fellow at Yale.
“Iran now has a golden opportunity to restore its wetlands including Lake Urmia. The reservoirs are full and the wetlands are breathing again. With some extra effort the country can stabilize the condition of its wetlands. But I am worried that this opportunity is lost and we see these wetlands drying up again once the hot and dry period comes back,” he said.
Iran’s water woes are not limited to Lake Urmia. Before the rains this spring, Iran was in a prolonged drought. Last summer protests erupted in villages where they had no clean drinking water. As temperatures begin to climb this summer, however, the reservoirs and dams are full to overflowing.
But Madani cautions against complacency, saying one year of good rain is not enough to solve the country’s problems. Everywhere in the world, wet seasons can take the focus off water shortage issues, he said. “The society and policy makers can develop wrong perceptions and make bad decisions, especially when the wet conditions last longer.”
Iran itself has been through this cycle before, he recalled. “Two decades ago Iran decided to build a lot of dams during a wet period. When the dry years came, everyone was complaining about having too many empty reservoirs. But now, by seeing floods, some have argued that more reservoirs are needed.”
Nature is never constant and policy makers need to study and understand that, he said. “Natural variability is simply confusing to people unfamiliar with how nature works.”
