Lake Urmia is the second-largest hypersaline lake in the world. There has been a drastic water level drop of 7.2 m from 1995 to 2016. Beginning in October 2013, the Lake Urmia Restoration Plan (LURP) launched a 10-year program. An increase in water level and a relative improvement in Lake Urmia condition has been observed since 2017. It is an undecided and controversial issue whether the recent positive trend of Lake Urmia has been due to the LURP activities or it is a natural contribution of climate factors variations. To shed some light on this issue, we examine three other lakes, adjacent to the Lake Urmia basin, with similar rainfall variability to investigate their status during the same period. Van (Turkey), Mosul, and Tharthar (both in Iraq), are evaluated as well as Lake Urmia. Three decades of remotely sensed data including precipitation ($P$), water level ($\mathit{WL}$), and lake extent ($A$) were considered for the mentioned lakes. A significant correlation was observed between standardized $\mathit{WL}-P$, and $A-P$ over the long-term period, especially for the recent three years ($R$² = 0.63–0.87). We show that the cumulative precipitation in the antecedent months played a major role in the improvement of these lakes' situation but with different time lags (up to 6 months for Van and Mosul lakes and up to 36 months for Lake Urmia and Tharthar lake). These findings could inform the planners of LURP to adopt strategies for achieving a sustainable state of Lake Urmia based on a more realistic outlook.

乌尔米亚湖是世界上第二大高盐度湖泊。1995 年至 2016 年水位急剧下降 7.2 m。从 2013 年 10 月开始，乌尔米湖恢复计划（LURP）启动了一个为期 10 年的计划。自 2017 年以来，观察到水位上升和乌尔米亚湖状况的相对改善。 乌尔米亚湖最近的积极趋势是由于 LURP 活动还是气候因素的自然贡献，这是一个未定且有争议的问题变化。为了阐明这个问题，我们检查了与乌尔米亚湖盆地相邻的另外三个具有相似降雨变化的湖泊，以调查它们在同一时期的状况。凡（土耳其）、摩苏尔和塔塔尔（均在伊拉克）与乌尔米亚湖一样被评估。包括降水在内的三年遥感数据（$磷$）， 水位 （$\mathit{WL}$) 和湖泊范围 ($\mathrm{一种}$) 被考虑用于上述湖泊。在标准化之间观察到显着的相关性$\mathit{WL}——磷$， 和 $\mathrm{一种}——磷$ 长期来看，尤其是最近三年（$\mathrm{电阻}$²  = 0.63–0.87）。我们表明，前几个月的累积降水对这些湖泊状况的改善起到了重要作用，但具有不同的时间滞后（凡湖和摩苏尔湖长达 6 个月，乌尔米亚湖和塔塔尔湖长达 36 个月）。这些发现可为 LURP 的规划者提供信息，以根据更现实的前景采取战略，以实现乌尔米湖的可持续发展。