ArmInfo."I officially declare that there will be no need for additional water pass from Lake Sevan," Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure Suren Papikyan stated at a government meeting on September 12.
According to Papikyan, 30 million cubic meters out of the permissible 170 million cubic meters have already been saved. "Compared to 2018, the lake level has already risen by 2 cm," he said.
Earlier, on August 30, on his Facebook page, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that as of August 26, 2019, compared to the same period last year, 45 million 616 thousand cubic meters less water were taken from Lake Sevan. "Everything is going to ensure that this year the discharge of water from Lake Sevan will not exceed the threshold established by law (170 million cubic meters. Ed.) And the water level in Sevan will begin to rise," the prime minister wrote. To recall, on June 6, the government decided that in 2019 water releases from Lake Sevan will not exceed 170 million cubic meters. According to the Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructures of the Republic of Armenia Suren Papikyan, the need ofwater pass from Lake Sevan is due to the need to irrigate 32 thousand hectares of agricultural land in the Armavir, Ararat, Kotay and Aragatsont regions of the republic. The reservoirs of the republic, as the minister noted, are full, but they are out of the reach of the above areas. The Office will do everything in its power to exclude additional water withdrawals.
RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan noted that 170 million cubic meters fit into the volumes stipulated by the current legislation of the country. Nevertheless, as the head of government emphasized, it is necessary to use the lake's waters as efficiently as possible in order to prevent additional releases.