Return of Motorboats to Lake Urmia

The head of the Urmia Lake National Park reported a 20-centimeter increase in the water level of Lake Urmia. He stated, "After four years, motorboats can now operate in this lake." Behzad Shirpanjeh, the head of the Urmia Lake National Park, said in an interview with ILNA news agency on Tuesday, April 23, that for the past four years, the park's protection unit had been using off-road vehicles instead of motorboats to access the islands. He added, "After four years, the protection unit is again using motorboats for patrol, control, and access to the national park and islands." He noted that the recent increase in water levels is due to good rainfall in the autumn, winter, and spring, as well as water inflow from rivers and the release of water from dams. Shirpanjeh expressed hope that with the melting of snow in the highlands, continued rainfall, and increased river flow in the Lake Urmia watershed, the water level would continue to rise. On April 17 of this year, Mehrang Doosti-Razai, the director of basic water resources studies at the West Azerbaijan Regional Water Company, told Mehr news agency that a total of 650 million cubic meters of water had been released from four dams—Mahabad, Boukan, Zolay Salmas, and Hassanlouyeh Naqdeh—toward Lake Urmia during the current water year, which begins in autumn. Doosti-Razai further stated that the water level of Lake Urmia has increased by 69 centimeters compared to the beginning of the current water year, reaching 1270.77 meters above sea level. Shirpanjeh also mentioned that on April 22 of this year, the water level had reached 1270.89 meters, indicating that the water level had risen again from April 17 to April 22. According to the official website of the Lake Urmia Revival Headquarters, Dr. Hadi Bahadori, the representative of the Lake Urmia revival project, announced on April 21 that over 1.5 billion cubic meters of water had entered the main area of Lake Urmia through the watershed during the current agricultural water year. He stated that "the inflow of over 1.5 billion cubic meters of water has increased the water surface area of the lake to over 2,000 square kilometers, whereas at the end of September of last year, the water surface area was about 500 square kilometers."