Iran opening another dam to save Lake Urmia
Iran is to open a major water storage and transfer project as part of efforts to revive Lake Urmia, a salt lake in northwest of the country which has shrunk in recent years because of excessive use of water from rivers and underground water in surrounding regions.
The Iranian Energy Ministry said in a Wednesday announcement that the Badinabad dam and canal system will be inaugurated a day later in West Azerbaijan province in a ceremony attended by Energy Minister Ali Akbar Mehrabian.
The Ministry said the dam will supply up to 180 million cubic meters per year of water to Lake Urmia.
It said water from Badinabad will be supplied via a 4.5-kilometer canal to the Kani Sib Dam, a nearby reservoir that was opened more than a year ago and is the main source of water supply to Lake Urmia.
Repeated spells of drought, dam building on rivers and groundwater pumping has caused Lake Urmia to shrink in size and water supply in recent years.
The issue has led to major environmental problems in Iran and in neighboring countries, including dust storms that has affected the quality of life in the region.
Reports published two years ago indicated that the surface area of the Lake had shrunk to reach 2,324 kilometers and its water had decreased to around 3 billion cubic meters.
Experts believe the amount of water in Lake Urmia should reach over 5 billion cubic meters so that it can become stable again.
The Kani Sib water storage and transfer system, which was opened in February 2023, supplies 300 million cubic meters of water to Lake Urmia per year via nearly 36 kilometers of tunnels and 11 kilometers of canals.
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