Experts in Iran have voiced concerns over the drying of Lake Urmia in the country’s northwest.
The lake is located between the provinces of East Azerbaijan and West Azerbaijan in Iran, and west of the southern portion of the Caspian Sea.
Managing Director of the West Azerbaijan Regional Water Company in Iran warned on October 25 that the volume of water in Lake Urmia decreased by half in 2021 compared to the previous year.
A member of the Iranian Association for Environmental Hazards and Sustainable Development believes that the situation is more catastrophic than officials acknowledge and that Lake Urmia will probably disappear by the end of autumn.
Social media users have also voiced their concerns over the shrinking of Lake Urmia that is essential for the economy of the West Azerbaijan and East Azerbaijan regions of Iran.
A video about salt storms and dust centers near Lake Urmia went viral in Iran’s social media in September, raising the question about health of millions of people inhabiting near the lake.
Lake Urmia has been sharply shrinking in the past decades. The lake has essential importance for the region’s ecosystem and the economic welfare of the region’s population. It also used to be a touristic destination.
Iran’s Azerbaijani activists and environmentalists have held protests against Iran’s policy over Lake Urmia across Tabriz, Urmia, and Ardabil cities urging the government to take measures to save the lake and blaming the government for inaction in the face of the lake’s shrinking.
The complete drying of Lake Urmia will lead to the forming of 10 million tons of salt that will potentially damage the environment and endanger health of people residing nearby.
Some activists believe that that the shrinking of Lake Urmia is not merely the result of natural processes and have accused the Iranian government of environmental injustice, claiming that the government ignores the problems of non-Persian populated regions.
They link the situation of lake Urmia to the systemic discrimination that Azerbaijanis as an ethnic group experience in Iran.
Lake Urmia is located in northwestern Iran and is surrounded by Azerbaijani populated cities such as Urmia, Tabriz, Khoy that have a total population of around six million people according to the government census.
