What is Lake Urmia? Sure, it is a lake, a basin full of water, and at first, the question seems like an unnecessary tautology. Nevertheless, as I hope this thesis has established, there is much more to a lake than ‘just’ water and its materiality. What is more, H2O may not be even the only central actor but one of many others in this case. In order to understand, what constitutes Lake Urmia, it was suggested by the hydro-social cyclehydro-social cycle to extend the circle of entities by including social, political and technological dimensions that have been relevant in the lake’s mutationmutation. In addition, the cartography of controversycartography of controversy provided a way to deepen ontological inquiry, as recommended by LintonLinton, J.’s (2010) hydrolectics. Yet, perhaps even more importantly, one of the pillars of this research was the emphasis on process; that is to say, the historical, political and—in this case primarily—the scientific processes and discourse that have shaped Lake Urmia and people’s understanding thereof.