Lake Urmia, a lake in north Iran, was once the largest lake in the Middle East, with a surface area of over 5,000km^2.
Since 1995, however, the lake has shrunk to 10% of its former size, due to incompetence (dams being built across its rivers and a massive bridge negligently built across the lake).
The lake shrunk drastically to just 700km^2 in 2013, but recent news shows the lake grew back to 2,300km^2 last year (levels last seen in 2011):
"It is one of the worst ecological disasters of recent decades, but
the shrinking of Iran's great Lake Urmia finally appears to be stabilising and officials see the start of a revival.
The lake has been shrinking since 1995, according to the UN Environment Programme, due to a combination of prolonged drought, over-farming and dams.
By August 2011 the lake's surface was 2,366 square kilometres (914 square miles) and shrank drastically to just 700 km2 in 2013, according to the United Nations.
That finally triggered a coordinated effort to save the lake in 2013—with
a joint programme between Iran and the UN Development Programme funded by the Japanese government.
The project became a
priority for the incoming administration of President Hassan Rouhani.
Some positive results are finally emerging and
the lake's surface area reached 2,300 km2 last year, according to UN Development Programme figures.
"This is
the beginning of the lake's revival," said Abolfazl Abesht, who heads the wetlands unit of Iran's environment department.
He warned
it would take "decades" to return to the 5,000 km2 it once covered, but at least "now the trend has stopped"."
Read more at:
https://phys.org/news/2018-12-iran-revival-imperilled-lake-urmia.html#jCp
