Armenian government requests additional release of irrigation water from Lake Sevan

YEREVAN, July 11. /ARKA/. The Armenian parliament discussed today a government’s request to allow additional release of water from Lake Sevan for irrigation purposes.

The permitted annual volume of water that can be taken from the lake under a relevant law is 170 million cubic meters. The government wants this year to raise this level to 240 million cubic meters.

Deputy Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure Vache Terterayn said the request is prompted by the fact that climatic conditions were not good enough for filling reservoirs and rivers.

He said water releases this year started on May 14, a month earlier than last year. He said also that as of today some 82.3 million cubic meters of water have been withdrawn from the lake, while, and about 81.3 million cubic meters have been delivered to the lake through the Arpa-Sevan tunnel, down from 148 million cubic meters in 2022.

At the same time, the level of Lake Sevan currently stands at 1,956 cm above sea level. I has risen by 13 cm since May 14. "Nevertheless, in May it became clear to us that the filling of reservoirs is low and that additional water release will be needed," Terteryan said.

According to the government's plan, the additional volume will be used in August to ensure water availability during the irrigation season. Terteryan said a similar practice, was also applied in 2008, 2012, 2014, 2017, 2018 and 2021. -0-