IRNA � An Iranian official said on Sunday that the level of water in Lake Urmia, northwestern Iran, has increased compared to the same period last year on December 23.

Speaking to the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) on Saturday, Farhad Sarkhosh, Head of Urmia Lake Restoration Project said that the water level of Lake Urmia in northwest Iran reached 1,270.54 meters on Dec 23, which shows a 26cm increase compared to the same period last year.

He also noted that the lake covers 2,047 sq. km of waterbed as of Dec 23, which indicates a 133 sq. km expansion on the same date of last year.

The volume of water has increased by 89 million sq. meters, reaching nearly one billion sq. meters this year, he added.

Lake Urmia is one of the largest permanent hypersaline lakes in the world.

The volume of water at the lake in 1997 measured at 30 billion cubic meters which dramatically decreased to 2.5 billion cubic meters in 2017.