The Disappearance of Lake Urmia, Iran

Lake Urmia is an ancient salt lake which situated in the far west of Iran. It is the largest salt lake in the Middle East. The lake used to be an important feeding ground for huge amounts of wildlife and birds and provide the local people with food. Now, due to irrigation and damming projects which block the water flow, Lake Urmia is emptying fast and very little water remains in what used to be a massive body of water. Due to damming of the tributaries which feed the lake it is now a massive 7 metres shallower. If the lake dries completely the many towns and cities positioned close to the lake will be covered with life threatening salt and dust which will blow straight from the lake and cover the life which once thrived. It has recently been suggested by environmental experts that in order to save Lake Urmia from drying completely water should be pumped all the way from the Caspian Sea to the Lake. It seems to many that this may be the only chance of saving Lake Urmia from drying totally and becoming a massive ecological disaster. The deterioration of Lake Urmia impacts 13 million local inhabitants, as well as the nations of Azerbaijan, Turkey, Iraq, and Armenia.

Aletheia Casey was born in Australia in 1980. Aletheia spent the majority of her youth drawing, painting and above all, photographing everything that was around her. She completed her Bachelor of Arts majoring in photography and minoring in Graphic Design in 2000 at the age of 20. From 2000 Aletheia devoted herself to travelling and photography, collaborating with international magazines and media including, BBC London, Getty Images Worldwide, Australian Associated Press, BBC Wales, SBS Television, Newspix Images and various international publications. 2010 saw her invited to exhibit alongside some of Australia's leading photo-journalists as part of The Head On Portrait Festival in Sydney, Australia as well as being named a winner of the European Women's Lobby Photography Award. In 2010 Aletheia was short-listed for the Spirit of Australia Youth Award and published for Witness Journal magazine in Italy. Most recently Aletheia has been invited to showcase her series "Italia" at the prestigious Reportage awards evening in Sydney, Australia and has been short listed for The Lucie Foundation Scholarship in the US. Aletheia has worked throughout China, Iran, Kazakhstan, India, Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Uruguay, Cuba, Samoa, New Zeland, USA, majority of Europe, Britain, Ireland, Nepal, Mongolia and Russia. She is currently based in London, UK.