Jonathan Bet Kolia from the environmental issues unit in the parliament in Iran stated that the matter of water is critical in the country.

According to a statement published on the Parliament’s website, Jonathan Bet Kolia said, “Many rivers including Lake Urmia and Zayendeh Rud have dried out and are under risk.”

Kolia pointed out the current situation in Lake Urmia in Eastern Kurdistan: “If the lake dries out completely, some 14 states in the country will perish.”

Kolia said, “Due to the salt in this region, if there is a storm or a heavy rain here, the region will be completely wiped out.

Kolia said the precautions have not been implemented and continued: “Sure, various methods were developed to revive Lake Urmia, like building canals and bringing in water from the Caspian Sea and the oceans, but none of these solutions were practically implemented and even though there have been some precautions, they were not made concrete.

Kolia said only 10% of the wetlands have not dried out yet: “If precautions to protect these areas are not implemented, the current wetlands will also perish for certain.”