UN grants $135 million to prevent drying of Lake Urmia

The UN Development Programme has allocated $135 million to Iran to eliminate the environmental disaster in Lake Urmia, said vice-president of Iran’s Environment Protection Organisation Mohammad Javad Mohammadizadeh, Mehr news agency reported.

He said misuse of the water flowing from the rivers into the lake causes drying of Lake Urmia.

Lake Urmia is located in the middle of Eastern and Western Azerbaijan provinces of Iran. 70 percent of 6 000 sq m lake has dried up. Every litre of the lake water contains 400 grams of salt. The government of Iran allocated $900 million to eliminate the environmental disaster in Lake Urmia in September, 2011.



/APA/