Urmia Lake - polsoz.fu-berlin.de · Portion of rivers, seasonal rivers and floodways end to the lake Zarine river 41% simine river 11% nazloochay 6% Barandozchay 6% Godarchay 8% mahabadch

Urmia LakeAssessing the portions of each parameter on

decline of the Lake’s water level in different years

Ra’na KoushkiBerlin-Nov 2013

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UrmiaUrmia LakeLake



3737°° 4242′′ 00″″ NN4545°° 1919′′ 00″″ EE









A shallow water & high level lake without any outlet.

Urmia lake basin area: about 52000 Km²

Lake Volume: 32000MCM

Lake Area: about 5300 km2

Lake Depth: about 4.5 m

Normal TDS: about 240 gram/lit

Present TDS: More than 400 gram/lit

National Park National Park (since (since 19711971))

RamsarRamsar Site Site (since (since 19751975))

UNESCO Biosphere Reserve UNESCO Biosphere Reserve (since (since 19761976))



Variation of the Surface of Urmia Lake (1984-2011)



1270.5

1270.7

1270.9

1271.1

1271.3

1271.5

1271.7

1271.9

1272.1

1272.3

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h= 1.33m



Eastern Azerbaijan:34 cities

290 villages

Western Azerbaijan:21 cities

1784 Villages

Kurdistan:2 cities

294 villages

57 cities & 3028 occupied

villages



Population and its distribution in Urmia lake basin

populationareaProvince

percentpersonpercentKm ²

49.1293938842.720117.7East Azar

47.0280964146.121701.6West Azar

3.923436811.25284.9Kurdistan

100598339710047104.2sum



Portion of rivers, seasonal rivers and floodways end to the lake

Zarine river

41%

simine river 11%

nazloochay

6%

Barandozchay

6%

Godarchay

8%

mahabadchay

5%

Shahr

chay

3%

Zoola

chay

1%

North of

basin

2%

floodways

5%

Ajichay 10%

Ghale chay

1%

Sofichay

2%

No of last hygrometry stations in main rivers ending to the lake: 18 with

37752 km² area (82% of basin area without lake)

•The volume of water discharged into the lake by these rivers varies considerably

during the year: during the spring, Talkheh River and Simineh River may each

discharge about 57 (cms), while the rate drops to only 3.7 or 1.7 (cms) in the dry

summer.You created this PDF from an application that is not licensed to print to novaPDF printer (http://www.novapdf.com)


Domestic, Industrial & Agricultural Water Consumption (MCM)

•56% from Surface Water & 44% From the Aquifer

•More than 87% of Water Consumption is in Agricultural Sector



yearArea of Irrigated lands

(ha)1979 158523

1991 306131

1998 381751

2002 3877052006 4156022011 450000 1979 1991 1998 2002 2006 2011

Area of Irrigated lands in Urmia lake basin (ha)

Agricultural Water Demand in the Basin(BMC)

1979 1991 1998 2002 2006 2011You created this PDF from an application that is not licensed to print to novaPDF printer (http://www.novapdf.com)


Significant drawdown on the lake’s water level

Increase in the lake water salinity

Appearance of salty released lands and dispersion of salts by wind

Considerable reduction in ecological sustainability of the lake

Impacts on the local (micro) climate

Main problems and hazards threatening the sustainability of Urmia Lake :



Methodologies We are formulating and developing an integrated water resources model in

order to analyze the impacts of different parameters (climate change and

water resources development projects) on Lake Urmia.

The main steps we undertook to investigate the solutions for our statement

as below:

Rainfall analysis according to data from 34 stations

Completing and analyzing runoff from 14 stations

Calculating and analyzing the lake water inflow

Evaluating impacts of upstream developments on downstream water supply

Evaluating impacts of drought on the rate of discharge of the rivers



Variation of Precipitation in a 60-Year Period (mm)

Total statistical period: 60 yearsDecreasing precipitation period: 16 years



Average of Precipitation in a 60-Year Period (mm)

Statistical period without trend: First 44 years



Variation of Precipitation(Average: In a 59-Year Period, A period without trend, Drought period) (mm)

381364

315

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

1952

1954

1956

1958

1960

1962

1964

1966

1968

1970

1972

1974

1976

1978

1980

1982

1984

1986

1988

1990

1992

1994

1996

1998

2000

2002

2004

2006

2008

2010

Precipitation during resting period: 381 mm Precipitation during last 16 years: 315 mm Average of decreased precipitation: 66 mmYou created this PDF from an application that is not licensed to print to novaPDF printer (http://www.novapdf.com)


Variation of Urmia Lake Water Level in a 47-Year Period

1278.40

1271.25

1275.16

1270

1271

1272

1273

1274

1275

1276

1277

1278

1279

1965

1966

1967

1968

1969

1970

1971

1972

1973

1974

1975

1976

1977

1978

1979

1980

1981

1982

1983

1984

1985

1986

1987

1988

1989

1990

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2009

2010

Time (Year)

Wat

er L

eve

(m)



Inflow to the Lake In order to estimate the volume of water inflow to the lake, the recorded

information of 14 hydrometric stations is used. Since none of these stations are closed to the lake, the discharge values to the

lake have been calculated according hydrological methods. Then removing the trend and adding the values of new consumption at the

upstream, the volume of water entering the lake in the absence of additionalupstream consumption was calculated.

In another scenario with the assumption that none of the four major dam hasbeen constructed, discharge values in the stations affected by the dams, for theyears after dam construction was estimated using hydrological methods.

According to calculations, the average volume of water entering the lake duringthe static period in natural circumstances that there is no dam and no overdraft atthe upstream is estimated about 6565.8 (MCM) and the mean of inflow over thestatic period assumption that there is no dam is 5946.4 (MCM) and over the totalperiod (59-year), the average of natural inflow (without any dam and excessiveconsumption at the upstream) is 6244.7 and the average of inflow to the lakewhile there is no dam is 5404.9 (MCM).

Volumes of water entering the lake during the statistical basis period, in each ofthe above scenarios are shown in the next figure.



Variation of Inflow to Urmia Lake in a 59-Year Period

4835.1

0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

12000

14000

16000

1952

1954

1956

1958

1960

1962

1964

1966

1968

1970

1972

1974

1976

1978

1980

1982

1984

1986

1988

1990

1992

1994

1996

1998

2000

2002

2004

2006

2008

2010

Year

MC

M



Summary of hydrological calculations(MCM)



Assessing the portions of each parameter on decline of water level of the lake



Assessing the portions of each parameter on decline of water level in different years









As is shown in a bow tables, the effect of drought is more than theother parameters.


Average of effect of each parameter on decline of water level of the lake between the years 1999-2010



Conclusion



Main Affective Factors on Drying Up the Lake Urmia:

Decrease in precipitation: Also the times ofprecipitation less than 10 mm, has increased.

Increase in temperature: an increased of about2C will lead to an increase in evaporation of about11.2% from the lake surface and about 4.8% fromthe whole surface area of the basin; thus, resultingin an increase in water consumption foragriculture.

Increase in overdraft from the aquifers and theincrease in number of illegal wells .



Average Eastern Level

30 Km

Average Western Level

Lake’s Water Level

1275 m

Lake’s Width

1430 m

WaterLevel

WaterLevel

1365 m

Evaporation Rain

Infiltration

River



Poor level of efficiency in water consumption forirrigation and industrial use.

Changing in crop pattern: From crops requiring low-to high-water consumption.

Change in land use: Pastures to orchards ,…

Expansion in areas of irrigated lands.

Construction of hydraulic structures(dams,..)

Increase in population: Leading to an increase in water consumption, Specially in Agricultural Sector.

Main Affective Factors on Drying Up the Lake Urmia:



Conclusion: The growth in population leads to an increase in water

consumption in different sectors, thereby necessity thedevelopment of the water resources

Uneven distribution of precipitation in the country in termsof time and location results in the inability to respond to waterneeds in different sectors; so, it is necessary to construct waterreservoirs to ensure water supply during times of lowprecipitation or lack of.

Dams may damage the environment, but when there is a lackof a proper hardware and software management of dams withinan integrated water resources management that has theparticipation of all stakeholders, the damage would beexponential.



Conclusion: Dams are useful not unless they are constructed not for a

purpose but as a result of pressures from different sectors in

the country.

The most damage to the lake is a result of the cumulative

effect of droughts in the past recent years.

Water consumption in the basin is more than 90% of the total

potential of water resources and if mismanaged, the lake

would still dry up even in normal conditions.



Conclusion: With the consideration of demand on one side and the

consequential damage to the natural and social environment

on the other with the drying up of the lake, it is critical that

stakeholders and all pertinent parties agree on the

necessary measures to undertake so that the lake be

preserved and the needs of the stakeholders are met.

So what we need to save the lake is an Integrated

Watershed Management (IWM).



Thanks for your kind attention



Documents

Urmia Lake - polsoz.fu-berlin.de · Portion of rivers, seasonal rivers and floodways end to the lake Zarine river 41% simine river 11% nazloochay 6% Barandozchay 6% Godarchay 8% mahabadch