More than half of the world’s largest lakes are drying up

Lake loss is a big problem for people who rely on that water for drinking and irrigation

A photo from high up of Lake Urmia in Iran.

Lake Urmia in Iran was once the world’s second largest salt lake, but since 1998 its area has shriveled by more than 90 percent.

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More than half of the world’s largest lakes shrank over the last three decades, researchers report in the May 19 Science.

That’s a big problem for the people who depend on those lakes for drinking water and irrigation.