The Disappearance of Lake Urmia, Iran


  • Photographer
    Aletheia Casey
  • Prize
    Honorable Mention
  • Company/Studios
    www.aletheiacasey.com
  • Date of Photograph
    September 2011
  • Technical Info
    Leica M6, 35mm Positive film

The Disappearance of Lake Urmia. Lake Urmia in Iran, is the largest salt lake in the Middle East. The massive lake lies far away from the country's capital Tehran, in the province of West Azerbaijan. The lake used to be an important feeding ground for huge amounts of wildlife and birds. Now, partly due to less rainfall but mostly due to irrigation and damming projects which block the water flow to the lake, Lake Urmia is emptying fast and very little water remains in what used to be a massive body of water. Due to damning of the tributaries which feed the lake it is now a massive 7 metres shallower. In 2011 thousands of people from the towns of Tabriz and Oroumiyeh (Urmia) took to the streets to protest against the government's continual lack of action in protecting the lake. The results were mass arrests and, according to local and international media organisations the peaceful protestors were met with brute force which resulted in many protestors being badly injured. According to locals who live in the area there has still been very little action to preserve Lake Urmia. Years ago while travelling across the middle east region I stumbled across Lake Urmia - that was before I was a photographer. The memory of Lake Urmia has lived with me for years and it was these memories that brought me back to the shores so many years later. I remember Iranians playing and laughing on the shores of the lake, picnicking and socialising together. It was a beautiful scene. When I returned in 2011 the idyllic lake that I remember was now long gone. Now the water is so far away from the shore that it takes almost an hour to reach it by foot. The salt crunches and breaches underfoot, while the boats sit awkwardly on the salty surface of the lake, a mockery of their old lives. Although some Iranians still visit the area for a holiday the majority of people from this area travel further to the Caspian Sea, where they can picnic and swim (in segregated male/female parts of the beach). The water in Lake Urmia is now so salty it would burn your skin to swim there. The people who live along the lake's edge have felt the changes impact dramatically on their lives. They can no longer hunt and eat the birds and wildlife that used to live along the shores of the Lake. More importantly then these factors though is the danger that if the lake dries completely the many towns and cities positioned close to the massive lake will be covered with life threatening salt and dust which will blow straight from the lake and cover the life which once thrived. It has recently been suggested by environmental experts  that in order to save Lake Urmia from drying completely water should be pumped all the way from the Caspian Sea to the Lake. It seems to many that this may be the only chance of saving Lake Urmia from drying totally and becoming a massive ecological disaster.

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