Over the past 200 years, the water level of the Caspian Sea has dropped to its lowest point.
Sea-news.az reports that, according to information from the Environmental Protection Department of Iran’s Mazandaran province, this was stated by the department’s Director General, Mohammad Reza Kanani.
“In recent years, climate change has noticeably affected the condition of the Caspian Sea. Over the last two decades, the water temperature of the Caspian Sea has increased by approximately 1.5 degrees. This issue has increased the level of evaporation by 10-15%,” he stated.
The department official added that 25% of the Caspian Sea’s water is provided by precipitation and 75% by rivers. At the same time, the Volga River is considered the most important river in supplying water to the Caspian Sea, accounting for 80% of the water entering this sea on its own.
Kanani noted that alongside the water entering the sea, evaporation is one of the effective indicators of the Caspian Sea’s water level, and the rise in air temperature and evaporation negatively affect the water level of the Caspian Sea.
Kanani said that based on current processes, the water level of the Caspian Sea decreases by approximately 10-20 centimeters per year. The continuation of this process is not only an environmental issue, but can also negatively affect the daily lives of the coastal population, coastal facilities and infrastructure, as well as the ecosystem tied to the Caspian, including coastal wetlands.
Kanani concluded by noting that changes related to the water level in the Caspian Sea should remain in the spotlight as a multifaceted issue, because the continuation of the process of declining water levels can have a wide-scale negative impact on the environment, economy, and coastal activities.
Let us add that the length of the Caspian Sea is approximately 1.2 thousand km, its maximum width is 466 km, and its minimum width is 204 km. The length of the sea’s coastline is approximately 6.38 thousand km. There are 5 littoral countries located around the sea: Azerbaijan, Iran, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, and Russia.
