The Director General of Environmental Protection of West Azerbaijan Province stated that Lake Urmia is on the verge of complete drying up.
Hojjat Jabari told Tasnim News Agency that in the northern part of the lake, which makes up about half of the lake’s area, very little water remains over an area of 100 square kilometers, perhaps just a layer four or five centimeters thick, which essentially means there is no water.
This is the first time we anticipate that within the next five or six days, the northern part of the lake will completely dry up. From an environmental perspective, even now, only a very thin and scattered layer remains in the north, and it is difficult to say there is any water.
Mr. Jabari stated that the northern part of Lake Urmia should be considered dry.
The Director General of Environmental Protection of West Azerbaijan Province mentioned that in the southern part of Lake Urmia, about 600 to 700 square kilometers of the lake has water remaining at a depth of about 15 to 20 centimeters. With this trend continuing, by the end of summer, there is a possibility of it completely drying up, which would mean the complete and 100 percent drying of Lake Urmia. Although we have not yet reached that stage, we are close.