Financial Tribune- Water level of the long-time embattled Urmia Lake in northwest Iran has risen by 5cm over the past week thanks to the springtime precipitation, the head of Urmia Lake Restoration Project said.

“The lake’s water level reached 1,270.82 meters on Sunday, registering a promising recovery of 74cm from the minimum level registered (1270.08) since 1965,” IRNA quoted Farhad Sarkhosh as saying.

He added that abundant rain water has flown through the tributaries into lake, improving its condition and increasing its area by 56 square kilometers over a week to reach 2,367 sqkm.

According to the latest figures released by the Energy Ministry, the lake has received a noticeable 374.8 millimeters of rainfall since the beginning of the current water year (September 23, 2017), which is 38.5% higher than the corresponding period last year, with 270.6mm.

Furthermore, the figure is 21.7% higher than the average precipitation registered during the past five decades.

Climate change, combined with unmethodical dam construction and unsustainable agricultural practices, has led to Urmia’s shrinkage over the years.

The ULRP was set up in 2013 to stabilize the lake’s water level (Phase 1) and restore it to what it was more than a decade ago (Phase 2).

The first phase was completed in September 2016 and the second phase started shortly afterwards but has been progressing behind schedule reportedly due to unfavorable climate and lack of budget to carry out the plans completely.

The long-term goal of the rescue project is to restore the lake by 2023.

Urmia is a closed water body fed through 21 permanent and 39 seasonal rivers.