In Iran, Lake Ourmia, in the north-west of the country, is considered the largest lake in the Middle East.
We must speak in the past tense, as the lake has now disappeared, leaving a vast expanse of salt and a few pockets of brine.
In the 1960s, the lake’s maximum extent was around 5,200 km2, making it one of the largest hypersaline lakes in the world, but Lake Ourmia has been experiencing a dramatic reduction in its level for several decades.
Since 2010, Lake Ourmia has already lost 90% of its surface area compared with 1970. In 2020, a particularly rainy season allowed the lake to refill, but this situation was short-lived.
Climate change has taken its toll, and this autumn’s drought has dried it out completely. This decline is due not only to climatic conditions, but also to the massive pumping of the groundwater that feeds the lake, and to changes in the course of the rivers that flow into it. Groundwater management in Iran is a disaster and is leading to dramatic environmental situations in Iran.
Their obsession with developing nuclear power plants and other nuclear by-products is leading to natural disasters throughout the region, from Tabriz to Qazvin.
This disappearance could have major consequences not only for human populations but also for the lake’s immediate environment. The lake was a refuge for many species of aquatic birds.
One of the most beautiful places in the world is disappearing. Around the lake, the colors of the sky at sunset were beyond beautiful, and there were not enough words to describe the magnificence of the landscape
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