Financial Tribune - Close to 1.6 billion cubic meters of water evaporated from Urmia Lake in the last 90 days, head of the Base Studies Department of East Azarbaijan Water Company said.

�Due to evaporation, the lake's water level has fallen by 50 centimeters compared to May when it reached a record high at 1,272 cm during the last ten years,� Aqil Aqdasi was quoted by IRNA as saying.

Putting daily evaporation at about 18 million cubic meters, he said the evaporation notwithstanding, the lake now holds 3.8 bcm of water or about 1.5 times more than last year�s 2.5 bcm.