Melbourne hydrologists to top up Iran’s shrinking lake

The University of Melbourne is working with researchers at Sharif University of Technology in Iran to help save one of the largest salt lake ecosystems in the Middle East.

The Lake Urmia basin national park, in Iranian Azerbaijan is listed as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. It provides seasonal habitat for more than 200 migratory bird species, including flamingos, spoonbills and storks.

Over the past two decades, poor water management and population pressures have led to a worsening environmental crisis for the region, with declining surface and groundwater water levels, toxic algal blooms and mass deaths of birds.