EcoLur
Despite officials' statements that additional outlets won't result in the negative balance of Lake Sevan level, nevertheless, the latter reached the negative balance.
As of 18 December, the lake level is lower by 6 cm as compared with the level on 18 December 2016 decreasing to 1900.42 meters from 1900.48 m.
According to the bill on making amendments to RA Law 'On Approving Annual and Complex Programs for Recovery, Conservation, Reproduction and Use of Lake Sevan Ecosystem', the lake level was 1900.46 m as of 1 January 2017, which means that the lake level is already lower by 4 cm than the officially accepted indicator for 1 January.
The level of Lake Sevan has decreased by 49 cm from its highest peak in 2017 - 1900.91 meters. Such a great increase in Lake Sevan level is conditioned with the additional 100 million cum water outlets out of the lake besides the set 170 million cum water.
The appendix developed by State Committee on Water Economy of RA Ministry for Energy Infrastructures and Natural Resources says, “Additional 100 million cum water outlet, according to the estimates, can lead to the decrease in Lake Sevan water level by almost 8 cm, and even in this case there will be around 10 cm higher water level compared with the same day of the last year. Thus, additional water outlets won’t violate the conditions of maintaining the positive balance of Lake Sevan water level.”
December 19, 2017 at 15:28