Urmia Lake Restoration Program Sharif University of Technology Urmia Lake Restoration Program Brief Report and Projects Outline October 2015 Content Subject Page INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................... 1 Figure 1. Changes in area of Urmia Lake (1984‐2011) ........................................................................... 2 Figure 2. Lake Urmia, Water Level Status in May 2013 Compared to May 2015 .................................. 2 1. GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE BASIN OF LAKE URMIA ............................................................ 3 1-1- General Characteristics .................................................................................................................... 3 Figure 3. Six main basins of Iran ............................................................................................................ 3 1-2- Current State of Water Resources .................................................................................................... 3 Figure 4. Rivers runoff declines (%) comparing two periods: before and after crisis ............................ 4 1-3- State of Water Consumption ............................................................................................................ 4 Figure 5. The volume of Urmia Lake water since 1963 .......................................................................... 5 1-4- Urmia Lake ...................................................................................................................................... 5 Figure 6. Area fluctuation of Urmia Lake since 1963 ............................................................................. 6 Table 1. Water Level of Urmia Lake during the last three years and Ecological Level ....................... 7 Figure 7. Ecological water level of Urmia Lake ...................................................................................... 7 Figure 8. Trend of well numbers within the Urmia Lake Basin for 40 years .......................................... 9 Figure 9. Area differences of Urmia Lake with 60cm decline of the level and Causeway situation .... 10 Figure 10. Water level of the Urmia Lake for 2012‐2015 ...................................................................... 10 1-5- Renewable Water Resources and Consumption Status in Urmia Lake Basin ............................... 11 1-6- Major threats of drying Urmia Lake .............................................................................................. 11 Figure 11. Possible impacts of salt dust on surrounding areas .............................................................. 12 1-7- Urmia Lake Restoration Program (ULRP) .................................................................................... 12 Figure 12. Organizational structure of ULRP .......................................................................................... 13 1-8- Phases of ULRP ............................................................................................................................. 17 1-9- Challenges of ULRP ...................................................................................................................... 18 1-10- Timetable for restoration of Urmia Lake ..................................................................................... 19 Table 2. Water Supply Potential for Urmia Lake during ULRP ......................................................... 19 Table 3. Urmia Lake Restoration Time Schedule up to 2023 ............................................................. 22 1-11- Conclusion ................................................................................................................................... 25 Urmia Lake restoration Program, Brief Report and Project Outline 1 Introduction Urmia Lake with high brine water (now more than 450 gr/lit) and the largest lake in the Middle East and the second most saline water in the world with a surface area of approximately 5,200 km² sits northwestern Iran near borderline with Turkey. The lake is a divider of two provinces of Iran namely East Azerbaijan and West Azerbaijan. At its original size, it was 5200 km², 140 km length, 55 km width, and 16 m depth. The lake has been shrinking for almost 20 years and now it is about 10% of its original size. There are many reasons for the drying of the lake, mostly is damming of the rivers feeding the lake and pumping of groundwater by almost 90,000 wells within the basin of Urmia Lake. Originally, it had 102 islands. It is protected as a national park by the Department of Environment in the country. Internationally, it is a registered protected area as both a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve and a Ramsar site. The Lake is home to more than 200 species of birds including flamingos, pelicans, spoonbills, ibises, storks, shelducks, avocets, stilts, and gulls. The recent drought and drying have significantly decreased the annual amount of water the lake receives. This in turn has increased the salinity (from 240 to 450 gr/lit) of the lake's water, lowering the lake viability as home to thousands of migratory birds including the large flamingo populations. By this amount of salinity, the lake no longer sustains any fish species. Nonetheless, Lake Urmia is considered a significant natural habitat of Artemia, which serve as food source for the migratory birds. In spite of having big area, it is very shallow whit an increase of annual evaporation to more than 1meter resulting in shrinking of the lake. The government of Iran announced a national program named “Urmia Lake Restoration Program” (ULRP) looked after by a national Committee headed by first vice president to revive the lake. The monitoring and evaluation of ULRP projects implemented with different ministries and organizations of the government is given to Sharif University of Technology by the secretariat of the National Committee. In the following, there will be some detailed information regarding the Urmia Lake Basin and the ULRP. Urmia Lake restoration Program, Brief Report and Project Outline 2 Figure 1. Changes in area of Urmia Lake (1984-2011) May 2015 May 2014 May 2013 Figure 2. Lake Urmia, Water Level Status in May 2013 Compared to May 2015 Urmia Lake restoration Program, Brief Report and Project Outline 3 1. General Characteristics of the Basin of Lake Urmia 1-1- General Characteristics Iran has six main basins. Urmia Lake Basin located in the North-West of the country covering an area of over 50,000 sqkm2. Urmia lake, as the country’s largest in-land lake is also a significant water ecosystem. With all runoff flowing into the closed basin, proper conditions are in place to assess and control various environmental elements. Figure 3. Six main basins of Iran 1-2- Current State of Water Resources The average precipitation as well as the number of rainy days in the basin of Lake Urmia has significantly fallen during recent years compared to previous periods on record. This, in turn has resulted in a drop in runoff and surface water inflow throughout the basin. The significant decline of the water level of the lake alongside renewable water resources reflects these events. Urmia Lake restoration Program, Brief Report and Project Outline 4 Figure 4. Rivers runoff declines (%) comparing two periods: before and after crisis 1-3- State of Water Consumption Currently, the water consumption in various sectors stands at 70% of the basin’s renewable water resources, which is significantly more than the stability limit of Lake Urmia. The agricultural sector is the largest consumer with a share of 89% of total water used from renewable resources. Because of high water consumption which declines inflow into the lake, the volume of the lake has reduced immensely. Figure 5 is indicating the volume of water since 1963. Urmia Lake restoration Program, Brief Report and Project Outline 5 Figure 5. The volume of Urmia Lake water since 1963 1-4- Urmia Lake Urmia, Lake, called (Daryāche-ye Urmiyeh) in local language, a salt lake in northwest Iran separating the provinces of West Azerbaijan and East Azerbaijan. It is located 1270 m above sea level, lat 37 to 38.5 N, long 45 to 46 E. It is approximately 140 km long in a north-south direction and about 85 km wide in its east-west extension with a surface area of 5,000 to 6,000 km2 verifying in wet and dry seasons. Depending on the time of observation and measurement, the height of the water table varies between 1,272 m above mean sea level to 1,280 m and the mean is 1,274 m. above sea level. While Robert Güthner (1899, p. 505) speaks of an overall basin size of “50,168 km2 , of which 4,649 km2 are at present occupied by the Lake of Urmia and its Islands”, de Macquenem speaks of only a 35,000 km2 basin size. Kaehne, on the other hand, calculates an overall size of Urmia Lake catchment area of approximately 52,500 km2, more than 13,000 km2 for the immediate lake basin, and 5,775 km2 for Lake Urmia itself. All these figures indicate the lake’s great fluctuations in time and space and its constantly changing size and depth, which is also responsible for the variations of its salt content and biogeochemistry. Figure 6 shows the area fluctuation of Urmia Lake for the last 50 years. Urmia Lake restoration Program, Brief Report and Project Outline 6 Figure 6. Area fluctuation of Urmia Lake since 1963 Fluctuations of the lake’s size and oscillations of its water table are closely connected with the geographical