Premier: If there really is a water mafia in Armenia, it must  capitulate as soon as possible

ArmInfo.The Armenian government approved amendments to the law on the approval of the annual and comprehensive programs of measures to restore, preserve,  reproduce and use the ecosystem of Lake Sevan at a meeting on August  23. According to the Minister of Energy Infrastructures and Natural  Resources of the Republic of Armenia Artur Grigoryan, the bill, which  in due course will be sent to the National Assembly and considered at  an extraordinary session of the parliament on August 28, provides for  increasing the water intake from Lake Sevan from the current 170  million to 210 million cubic meters. , according to the minister, is  necessary to provide farmers with sufficient volumes of irrigation  water.

He also said that CJSC International Energy Corporation, which  uses lake water as fuel for the Sevan-Hrazdan cascade of HPPs, as  well as CJSC "Electric Networks of Armenia, undertake to channel all  of its proceeds from the use of additional 40 million cubic meters of  water to to the non-budgetary fund of the government.In the past  year, the minister continued, from the lake an additional 100 million  cubic meters of water was produced, which allowed to accumulate 1.6  billion drams in the off- budget fund, the minister said,  environmental problems of Sevan, including the construction of new  water treatment plants, Arthur Grigoryan also said that from April 1,  2019 the lake will receive 250 million cubic meters of water annually  on the renovated Arpa-Sevan tunnel, thus covering the water releases  in 2017 Meanwhile, as Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan noted, today's  decision is taken by the members of the government with a heavy heart  so as not to harm the villagers.He stressed that the discussed issue  is one of the most problems, his decision was preceded by a month and  a half learning. "The discussions were stormy, and as a result of  them it became clear that there are risks of creating a deadlock for  agriculture," the head of the Armenian government said, adding that  the situation is deadlocked for the authorities. "The irrigation  system raises a lot of questions, and it is necessary to understand  whether there are statements about the existence of a water mafia, if  it is so, then it must capitulate as soon as possible," said Nikol  Pashinyan. He also called not to treat Sevan as a water container,  but to look for other opportunities, in connection with which an  operational group will be created. The prime minister also instructed  to study the situation in fish farms using huge volumes of water,  especially from artesian wells, as well as to identify "shadow  gardens", of which much is said.

In turn, the Minister of Nature Protection Eric Grigoryan noted that  the water potential of Armenia is 7 billion cubic meters, of which  about 2 billion cubic meters of water is needed. In this regard,  Grigoryan sees the solution of the issue in the effective management  of the country's water resources. Earlier, the chairman of the NGO  "Association for Sustainable Development" Karine Danielyan noted that  the current state of Lake Sevan is not an accident. "I take it like a  lake cry for help, we have been sounding alarm for years: if we  continue to treat Sevan like this, instead of a lake we will have a  swamp, and water will not be suitable even for irrigation." Now we  are faced with this problem. The active reproduction of blue-green  algae is an indicator that the lake is actively approaching water  logging.In that part of the water where there is active flowering,  there are also poisonous substances, "she noted. The ecologist  indicated that Lake Sevan has been in conflict with the flowering  process since 1964, every 2-3 years, but never the scale was the same  as now. Karine Danielyan explained that the flowering in the lake is  due to several factors:  biological, lack of physicochemical water  treatment stations, these stations failed after the collapse of the  USSR, as well as a decrease in the water level in the lake and high  air temperature. "Every year, we raise the issue of inadmissibility  of solving irrigation problems at the expense of water releases from  Lake Sevan." If we lose Sevan, we will lose Armenia, "added K.  Danielyan.