Arsen Harutyunyan: The volume of accumulated water in the reservoirs  of Armenia is 100 million cubic meters less than the desired rate

ArmInfo. As of today, the water reservoirs in Armenia are filled with 52%. Meanwhile, the more favorable in terms of sediment, the year 2016, provided an indicator  at 65%.  Answering the question of ArmInfo, the head of the State  Committee for Water Economy of Armenia Arsen Harutyunyan stated this  on April 8 at a meeting with journalists.

According to Harutyunyan, 460 million cubic meters have been  accumulated in the reservoirs of Armenia.  water, which is 27 million  cubic meters lower than last year's figure. The Akhuryansk reservoir  is currently filled at a rate of 325 million cubic meters of 525  million cubic meters. In general, as the head of Vodkhoz pointed out,  the volume of accumulated water per 100 million cubic meters less  than the desired rate.

At the same time, as the head of the Committee emphasized, today the  water level in Lake Sevan has increased by about 10 cm - 1900 m 55 cm  compared to the beginning of the year (as of December 25, 2017 it  decreased by 0.05 m (5 cm) and amounted to 1900 m 42 cm ed). This, as  noted by Harutyunyan, contributed to the seasonal release of water  from the tunnel "Arpa-Sevan". So, during the last 20 days water  transfer amounted to about 26 million cubic meters of water, which  led to an increase in the water level by about 2 cm. As Arutyunyan  reminded, the second stage of restoration of the Arpa-Sevan  hydrotunnel worth 5 billion drams, started in January 2017 and will  end in 2019 - a year ahead of schedule. For today, water in Lake  Sevan is supplied with interruptions, annually in the amount of  100-120 million cubic meters. "After the completion of the tunnel  overhaul, 200-250 million cubic meters of water will be sent to Sevan  via a hydrotunnel from the rivers Arpa and Egeghis," Arsen  Harutyunyan said.

Meanwhile, the head of Water Committee for today is not ready to  answer what the volumes of water release will be. "Currently, a draft  government decision on water intake from Lake Sevan is being prepared  in the amount of 170 million cubic meters. We are not ready to  announce large volumes today, "he said.

The National Assembly of Armenia on July 17, 2017 approved the law on  increasing the volume of water discharge from Lake Sevan from 170  million cubic meters up to 270 million cubic meters. The reason for  this decision was the fact that the filling of the Aparan and Azat  reservoirs was 17 million cubic meters less than in the previous one,  and the Hrazdan River is less than 40 million cubic meters full. In  addition, the Akhuryanskoye reservoir was filled with 105 million  cubic meters less. Despite the fact that the Ministry of Nature  Protection of Armenia opposed the proposal to increase the water  intake from Sevan, and independent experts unanimously reiterated  that the decrease in the water level in Sevan will lead to  irreversible consequences in connection with the intensification of  the water logging process, the law was adopted that, like expected,  reflected at the level of Lake Sevan. The authors of the law assured  that additional releases of water per 100 million cubic meters,  according to calculations, could lead to a decrease in the lake level  by 8 cm, in which case, even in comparison with the same day of the  previous year, a high water level of Lake Sevan will be provided at  10 cm (18-8). According to official data, in 2017 water intake  totaled 266.757 million cubic meters of water, instead of the  envisaged 270 million cubic meters.

This year, the issue of irrigation of agricultural land will become  more problematic due to the fact that at the beginning of this year  the chairman of the State Water Committee of the Republic of Armenia,  Arsen Harutyunyan, stated that in Armenia, irrigated areas increased  by 8930 hectares, amounting to 97470 hectares, which is 9.2% more  than in 2016. According to him, irrigated areas of one hectare with  5130 cubic meters are brought to 6001 cubic meters. m. In 2018, as  noted in the State Committee, the task will be to bring the irrigated  areas to 110 thousand hectares.