ArmInfo. As a result of the long and irresponsible attitude of the authorities, Lake Sevan today has faced many problems. On July 17, during the working discussion "Problems of Lake Sevan and ways to solve them", initiated by the "Prosperous Armenia" party, PAP MP Naira Zohrabyan said.
She noted that Sevan is one of the main components of the national security of Armenia, and environmentalists repeatedly raised this question, but no answer was received. According to Zohrabyan, she was many times informed that for many years the country received grants for carrying out cleaning work in the coastal areas of Lake Sevan. However, now, when we see a depressing situation, it becomes obvious that these grants were used for other purposes," the MP said.
The MP also noted that today various political forces are trying to politicize this issue and use it for their own purposes. "Such a position is unacceptable, however, during our today's hearings, we intend to understand all the issues related to the Lake's problems and find ways to solve them," Zohrabyan stressed.
Zohrabyan also complained that the ministers of Healthcare and the Environment were not present at the hearings. "We sent them an official invitation, however, they did not want to appear in the parliament and take part in the discussion. I consider such behavior of ministers as disrespectful attitude to the legislative body of the country. Moreover, today I will address the Prime Minister of Armenia with a written request about the reasons the absence of government members in discussions. All this acquires a particularly strange character, given the fact that they are interested parties and constantly give interviews on Lake Sevan issues, "the MP concluded.
It should be noted that Lake Sevan is the main source of drinking water in the region, one of the largest alpine lakes in Europe and Asia, located in the heart of the Armenian Highlands, at an altitude of 1914 meters. This year, blue-green algae bloomed in large numbers in the lake, after which the Ministry of Healthcare of Armenia called on the residents of the country not to swim in these parts of the lake, as these algae are toxic. In turn, the "bloom" of Sevan caused serious concern to environmentalists, who sounded the alarm. Moreover, experts said that it is necessary to take appropriate measures and save Sevan. As a cause of "blooming" of Sevan there are two reasons, the first is the distribution of blue-green algae, and the other reason for the lake's "blooming" is called a decrease in the water level in the lake.
According to the well-known environmentalist in Armenia, an expert on water resources, Knarik Hovhannisyan, this is not about the so-called "swamping" of Sevan, but about the lake's eutrophication process. The first signs of such a "disease" of Sevan occurred as far back as the 1940s and 1960s of the last century. The causes of Sevan eutrophication lie in the increase in lake water temperature, as a result of which the deep "cold" layer decreases, which leads to a change in the habitual biodiversity. This process is also promoted by sewage from the entire drainage basin, which contains, in addition to municipal wastewater, household waste, fertilizers, pesticides, etc., that are washed away from irrigated lands, also contributes to this process. In this sense, according to the expert, the work of only three treatment facilities, which perform only mechanical water treatment, is completely inadequate.
A very important and dangerous factor for the lake eftrophication is the small hydroelectric power stations built on the rivers flowing into the lake, which often take water from the rivers above the allowed limit, thus not providing the necessary amount of environmental protection. Often on these structures there are no so-called "fish passes" necessary for spawning fish. As a result of all this, according to the ecologist, in recent years there has been a disappearance of the cancer population in the lake and some species of fish, which are natural nurses of Sevan. Not a small " input" to the lake pollution is brought by several hundred tourist facilities around the perimeter of the lake, which practically do not have sewage treatment plants and wash their drains directly into the lake. There are also several dozen fish farms that artificially grow trout, which use feed of unknown composition - antibiotics, preservatives, dyes, etc.
As a result, these processes led to the fact that the coastal strip of the lake became unsuitable for recreational use, as well as for irrigation purposes. These factors contribute to the disturbance of the nitrogen-phosphorus balance, which leads to lake eutrophication.According to Hovhannisyan, it is urgent to stop the flow of sewage into the lake without their prior biological treatment, to force hydropower plants to begin work in the framework of approved projects and contracts without violating environmental protection requirements, and prohibit artificial fish farming in the lake. "We are already witnessing the global warming of the climate and recklessly adding to this the anthropogenic impact on the aquatic ecosystem of the pearls of Armenia," summarized Knarik Hovhannisyan.