The Urmia Lake in Iran, which is over 4,000 years old, has completely dried up. The news was reported by Germany's "Bild" newspaper on September 24, noting that Urmia Lake, considered Asia's largest salt lake, once had a water basin 140 kilometers long and 55 kilometers wide just yesterday - in the 1980s.
Medianews.az reports that the drying of the lake located in the country's northwest, in the lands of South Azerbaijan, has brought an ecological disaster to the region, leaving the area at the mercy of salt storms and rendering it unsuitable for agriculture. Ecologists believe that the Urmia disaster is also the result of over one million illegal wells in the country sucking groundwater.
According to calculations, 88 percent of the water resources are directed to agriculture, which contributes only 10 percent to the country's gross domestic product. It is noted that the country uses 43 million cubic meters more water annually than what nature can restore.
Six provinces of Iran, covering an area of 1.6 million square kilometers, encompass the historic lands of South Azerbaijan: East Azerbaijan province (center – Tabriz city), West Azerbaijan province (center – Urmia city), Ardabil province (center – Ardabil city), Zanjan province (center – Zanjan city), Qazvin province (center – Qazvin city), Hamadan province (center – Hamadan city).
Toğrul Ali,
Medianews.az
