At the sitting held on June 2, the executive decided to set the amount of water intake from Lake Sevan for irrigation in 2022 at 170.0 million cubic meters.
Reminder: RA Environment Ministry proposed to set the volume of water intake from Lake Sevan at 135 million cubic meters. "Maintaining the integrity of Lake Sevan ecosystem is one of the top priorities of Environment Ministry, so let us once again note that the Ministry considers it expedient to set the volume of water intake from Lake Sevan for irrigation during the 2022 irrigation period to 135 million cubic meters," the ministry noted. However, the proposal was not accepted. According to the rationale of RA Government decision, the area of contracted irrigated lands made up about 31.2 thousand hectares. The required volume of water is estimated at about 424 million cubic meters, out of which 236 million m3 is planned to be provided by about 149.5 million cubic meters from the Hrazdan River, about 45 million cubic meters from Azat Reservoir, and about 15 million cubic meters from Aparan Reservoir. With the operation of Mkhchyan and Ranchpar-Arevshat pumping stations with maximum capacity, it is planned to ensure about 26.5 million cubic meters of water production. And the water to be taken from Lake Sevan is estimated at 170 million cubic meters, not less than that.
Even so, owning one is still beyond the reach of the average person. This calculation does not consider possible changes in weather conditions during the summer months, which may increase water demand.
It should be noted that this year Lake Sevan did not have a positive balance. As of June 2, the level of the lake is 19 cm lower than the same day last year.
June 02, 2022 at 18:22