Despite the negative balance of Lake Sevan, RA Government approved the decision to draw an additional 70 million cubic meters of water from the lake. As a result, up to 240 million cubic meters of water will be released from the lake in 2023, instead of the 170 million cubic meters prescribed by law.
The need to reach a decision is due to the need to partially alleviate the deficit of irrigation water supply.
It was calculated that the water deficit will be 121.4 million cubic meters. It is planned to take about 51.4 million cubic meters as a result of additional mechanical water production, and up to 70 million cubic meters from Lake Sevan.
It should be noted that RA Environment Ministry warned: "A negative balance will be recorded again." in the summary of the decision.
In response, the authors of this observation document compared lake level readings for December with the readings for June, noting: “If 240 million cubic meters of water are released, the level mark will have an advantage of about 10 cm.”
Actually, Lake Sevan has a negative balance. Comparing the indicators of the lake level not by the difference of seasons, but as of the same day of the previous year, we see that the lake level is 20 cm less than the indicator of the same day of the previous year.
It should be noted that Lake Sevan has had a negative balance every year since 2020.
June 29, 2023 at 15:10