Iran to import water from Georgia, Armenia

An Iranian MP said research has been carried out on a project to import water from Georgia and Armenia to save Lake Urmia from completely drying out.

The project to transfer water from these two countries will be mainly carried out by Iran and the purchase of the water will come in the form of bartering, Ali Alilu told reporters, IRNA news agency reported August 10.

The lake’s water volume is only two billion cubic meters, whereas once it used to be 36 billion cubic meters.

The MP had earlier rejected the idea of carrying water from the Caspian Sea to rescue the lake, stating that doing so was not justifiable.

The water will be pumped from Lake Sevan and some other sources in Armenia and Georgia by three pumping stations, according to the MP.

Lake Sevan is situated 60 kilometers to the northeast of Armenian capital Yerevan and is one of the world’s biggest mountain sweet water lakes.

The dry-out of Lake Urmia has caused waves of protest by locals and numerous officials have warned against its aftermaths.

A local official recently said the lake has turned into one of the major sources of dust storms in the Middle East, noting that the salt-laden dust rising from the dry bed of the lake could spread as far as 500 kilometers in diameter. (Trend.az)