April 05, 2018
During his tour of Western Azerbaijan Province, Iran’s First Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri hinted that the government might invest billions of dollars in importing water from abroad as part of a project to replenish Lake Urmia.
“Shortly after taking office, President Hassan Rouhani set up the Lake Urmia Recovery Task Force. The group has reviewed many proposals concerning ways to replenish Lake Urmia, including one involving the transfer of water from the Caspian Sea. We have also consulted foreign experts on this matter,” Mr. Jahangiri said.
“We’re also studying ways to reuse the water that filters through purification plants in Tabriz, Urmia and other small towns to replenish the lake,” Jahangiri added. “The task force discussed many of these ideas when we were selling our oil at $100 a barrel. But our oil revenue has sharply declined, so the government has had to put many of these projects on hold.” Given these recent remarks, it is unclear why Jahangiri is referring to securing billions of dollars in foreign credit to fund the Lake Urmia project.
Iran’s neighbor Turkey seems to be the most logical source for buying water. But President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government is at odds with Tehran and Baghdad over the source of water for the Southeastern Anatolia Project (GAP), which involves the construction of 22 dams and 19 power plants. The project also calls for building a dam over the Tigris-Euphrates river system which could impact the environment and the landscape in Iran, Syria, and Iraq. The fear is that the Tigris-Euphrates dam could cause severe drought in the surrounding area which, combined with frequent dust storms, could pose a grave environmental threat.
No rivers are flowing into Lake Urmia from neighboring Armenia, the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic. From what country does Vice President Jahangiri plan to import water? He must be aware that the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) has been managing most of the projects regarding the transfer of water inside Iran. We must mention that every one of those projects has failed.
Also, if the government can secure billions of dollars in a foreign line of credit, then it should invest the money in more urgent projects. Mr. Jahangiri is not familiar with Western Azerbaijan Province and its ongoing struggle with chronic water shortage and severe drought.
In September 2011, the government of former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad released a progress report on the Aras river project (flowing through Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Iran). President Rouhani’s government created the Lake Urmia Recovery Task Force after receiving information on salt storms that threatened the entire region. In 2017, his government announced that it had no plans to transfer water from the Aras river to Lake Urmia.
