Feel accountable for dreadful disaster in Iran’s largest salt lake

Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 17 By Farhad Daneshvar – Trend : Lake Urmia in the northwestern corner of Iran, one of the largest permanent hypersaline lakes in the world and the largest lake in the Middle East, has turned blood-red, blamed on a combination of drought and increased water diversion for irrigated agriculture within the lake's watershed as well as mismanagement. "I flied over Lake Urmia, three weeks ago. It is not in a good condition and it has turned red. I saw no birds around the lake and I estimate that the level of water in the lake shrunk to less than one-third of its original volume," Esmail Kahrom, an advisor to the head of Department of Environment of Iran, described the latest situation of the lake in an interview with Trend.