Speaking to reporters on Friday, Mohammad Sadeq Motamedian said the project is one of the most important ones in reviving Urmia Lake.
He added the capacity of the lake is now 220 million cubic meters, 150 million cubic meters of which have so far been filled.
Urmia Lake, located between East and West Azarbaijan provinces, was once the largest salt-water lake in the Middle East.
It is a habitat to many migratory and indigenous animals, including flamingos, pelicans, egrets, and ducks, and attracts hundreds of tourists every year who had bathed in the water to take advantage of the therapeutic properties of the lake.
Urmia Lake began shrinking in the mid-2000s due to decades of longstanding drought spells and elevated hot summer temperatures. According to international statistics, the lake had lost about 80 percent of its waterbed by 2015.
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