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By Amir Daftari
News Reporter
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New satellite images show that Lake Urmia, once the largest lake in the Middle East, has reached record lows and may vanish entirely by the end of summer.
The lake, which spans northwestern Iran, has been reduced to a fraction of its former size, with officials and scientists warning of potentially irreversible ecological and human consequences.
Newsweek has reached out to Iran's Foreign Ministry for comment.
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Why It Matters
The crisis surrounding Lake Urmia is more than a regional disaster. It highlights the twin threats of climate change and chronic mismanagement that have plagued Iran's water resources for decades.
Nationwide, over 90 percent of the country is experiencing some level of drought, reservoirs in major cities have dropped to critically low levels, and officials have urged citizens to conserve water.
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What To Know
A timelapse created from imagery captured by the European Space Agency's Sentinel-2 satellites between May and September this year shows Lake Urmia's dramatic shrinkage.
Officials confirmed that in August, the lake's water level was just under 1,270 meters, its surface area had shrunk to 581 square kilometers, and its volume had plunged to half a billion cubic meters, down from 2 billion cubic meters in 2024, underscoring the speed of the decline.
In 1995, Lake Urmia held an estimated 32 billion cubic meters of water. Today, drought and a lack of water inflows have stripped it of more than 98 percent of its volume. The warnings are dire: without substantial intervention, the lake may dry up completely within weeks.
Is Lake Urmia Beyond Saving?
Iranian officials have long pledged to restore the lake, but revival efforts have faltered. Funding shortfalls, turf battles among government agencies, and weak enforcement of water limits have undermined progress.
Ahmadreza Lahijanzadeh, deputy for marine and wetland affairs at Iran's Department of Environment, has said that while revival is possible, Lake Urmia will never return to its mid-1990s condition.
Scientific studies echo that concern. Research has shown that groundwater overextraction to meet agricultural demand is one of the leading drivers of Urmia's shrinkage. Dam construction has further choked off water inflows, while exposed salt beds have damaged soil fertility and created hazardous dust storms. Bird populations, once plentiful across the basin, have sharply declined.
X user Hamid Ghaffari shared a series of images showing just how drastically the lake has dried up.
Water Saving Campaign
Meanwhile, the government has launched a nationwide campaign urging people to take fewer showers as the country faces its worst water shortage in decades. Officials say 24 of 31 provinces are affected, with some reservoirs at just 7 percent of capacity.
Tehran is among the hardest-hit, with millions pressed to cut personal water use. The Energy Ministry has warned that without significant reductions, urban areas could face severe disruptions, singling out showering as one of the easiest habits to change.
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What People Are Saying
Ahmadreza Lahijanzadeh, deputy for marine and wetland affairs at Iran's Department of Environment: "The lake's water level on August 1, 2025, was 1,269.74 meters, its area had shrunk to 581 square kilometers, and its volume was down to about half a billion cubic meters. The lake may have reached a point of no return."
Iran President Masoud Pezeshkian: "If we cannot manage, and people do not cooperate in controlling consumption, there won't be any water in dams by September or October."
What Happens Next
Despite emergency measures, Urmia's outlook remains grim. The lake's collapse reflects a wider water crisis across Iran, where drought, overextraction, and depleted reservoirs are straining cities and agriculture alike.
Unless inflows are drastically increased, one of the Middle East's most important lakes could vanish this summer, leaving behind only salt, dust, and a stark lesson in the costs of mismanagement.
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