The state-run IRNA news agency reported on October 23, 2017 that during the last 40 days, Urmia Lake has settled back and shrank another 300km. The current level of Urmia Lake is only 21 centimeters which is the lowest recorded level in the last half century. According to the Urmia Lake Restoration Office, with the drying of Urmia Lake in recent years, a surface area of 82,000 hectares of marginal land and lake bed has been identified as supercritical areas of dust production. Meanwhile, a broad area of more than 3,000 kilometers in the lake bed is covered with thick salt layers.