EcoLur
The new law on additional water intakes from Lake Sevan does not solve the main problem of preventing additional water intake in case of a negative balance from Lake Sevan. On December 6, the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia adopted the Bill on Making Amendments to Law "On Approving Annual and Complex Programs of Measures for Restoration, Conservation, Reproduction and Use of Lake Sevan Ecosystem".
The original version of this bill would prohibit additional intake in case of the negative balance of the lake. However, the government gave a negative opinion to that version of the bill, and the bill was amended. The amendment lifted the ban on cases where the government decides on the scarcity or drought of the year and will then submit to the National Assembly for approval, even in the event of a negative balance, a relevant bill on additional water intake from Lake Sevan.
Thus, Point 11 of Article 11 of RA Law on Lake Sevan (Basic Principles of State Policy on Lake Sevan Ecosystem Recovery, Conservation, Reproduction, Natural Development and Use) excluding Lake Sevan's negative water balance and raising the level of ecologically necessary lake will continue being violated.
December 09, 2019 at 12:18