The declining water level of Lake Urmia has stabilized following effective rainfall in October, with the lake’s water volume remaining at approximately 2.55 billion cubic meters in the first month of the new water year.

Axar.az reports, citing Iran’s IRNA news agency, that Mohammad Ali Hassanpour Ghadam, head of basic water resources studies at the East Azerbaijan Regional Water Company, announced the findings based on the latest hydrological monitoring.

He said that, unlike previous years when the lake’s water level generally continued to fall at the beginning of autumn, October rainfall had halted the decline and showed signs of improvement.

According to IRNA, the lake’s highest water level this year was recorded at 1,271.94 meters above sea level.

Lake Urmia’s water level fluctuated between 1,274 and 1,278 meters from 1965 to 1993. After that, it began to decline, falling by an average of 40 centimeters annually and by a total of eight meters by 2014.

The lake’s catchment basin covers 51,876 square kilometers and is one of Iran’s six main drainage basins.