As part of the project Integrated Programme for Sustainable Water Resources Management in the Urmia Lake Basin, kindly funded by the Embassy of Japan, an advanced water-accounting system to enhance the management of water resources in the Urmia Lake Basin was introduced and capacity development initiatives related to water education implemented by FAO experts and consultants.

In 2021, the Water Accounting Plus for the whole Urmia Lake Basin was calculated, and the related maps were prepared by a multi-disciplinary team of national experts with FAO supervision. The Sharif University of Technology, as the designated focal point for updating Water Accounting of the Basin and national experts from different stakeholders, acquired Water Accounting know-how through the project's continuous and comprehensive effort that has been started in 2017. Water Accounting Plus, by using advanced remote sensing science, provides a framework for effectively managing the Basin's water resources and consumption. The framework highlights evapotranspiration (ET) hotspots where the Basin loses water. A set of scenarios for these hotspots that will increase water productivity and result in maximum water saving in the Basin were identified and reported. The 2021 Water Accounting of the Basin includes up-to-date land cover, crop, and ET maps of the Urmia Lake Basin in high-resolution. All the analytical reports are available for the project’s stakeholders; the Ministry of Agriculture Jahad, the Ministry of Energy, the Department of Environment and a number of academic institutions.

FAO brought international knowledge (seven FAO experts and two international institutes) and national capacities (two national universities and 300 national experts) together to materialize this dynamic and equipped process.