Iranian official: water level in Caspian Sea decreases

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The water level in the Caspian Sea has decreased by 3-4 centimeters in the current Iranian year (began from March 20, 2020), compared to last Iranian year, Deputy Director of Iranian National Institute for Oceanography and Atmospheric Science Hamid Alizadeh told ISNA, Trend reports.

The deputy director added that the main reason for the decrease in water in the Caspian Sea is the reduction of water entering the sea and high evaporation.

According to Alizadeh, the Volga River is the main supplier among the rivers flowing into the Caspian Sea.

Alizadeh added that at a time when the Volga River was overflowing, more than 300 billion cubic meters of water a year flowed into the Caspian Sea. When this river water was scarce, half of it (150 billion cubic meters) flowed into the sea.

The official stressed that the role of other rivers is not so large compared to the Volga River. For example, the water flowing from Iran’s Sefid-rud River into the Caspian Sea is about 4 billion cubic meters per year.

“Given that the decline in water levels in the Caspian Sea is caused by increasing natural factors and climate change, the best way to protect the sea level is to overcome problems related to human activity,” he said.

Alizadeh noted that if the human factor in the use of water in the Caspian Sea is reduced for 10 years and the water is used at the level of 100 years ago, the water level in this sea will increase by about 1 meter.