Lake Urmia

Lake Urmia is a vast salt lake in north-western Iran, lying between the provinces of West and East Azerbaijan; the city of Urmia stands near its western shore. At its fullest it was the largest lake in the Middle East and one of the largest salt lakes in the world, with dozens of islands scattered across its shallow water. It is one of the defining landscapes of Iranian Azerbaijan, and Azerbaijanis, Kurds and Assyrians all live around its shores.

The lake has no outlet, so the rivers that feed it leave their salts behind as the water evaporates, making it far saltier than the sea. Few creatures can live in it, but one, a tiny brine shrimp, Artemia urmiana, thrives in vast numbers and feeds the flocks of flamingos, pelicans and other birds that breed and rest on the lake and its islands. The lake and its islands are a national park, and its wetlands are protected under the Ramsar Convention.

From the 1990s the lake began to shrink dramatically. Between its high point in 1995 and the mid-2010s, its level fell by more than seven metres and it lost most of its surface area, leaving salt flats and stranded jetties. Drought, the damming of its rivers and heavy use of water for farming all played a part, and scientists debate their relative weight. Winds carrying salt from the exposed lakebed became a fear for the region's farms and health.

Saving the lake became a national cause, and wetter years and restoration efforts since 2019 have brought some water back, though its level rises and falls with the seasons. Its future remains uncertain, and for many in the region it is a symbol of Iran's wider struggle with water.