Official: The Ministry of Environment of Armenia is implementing a  number of measures to restore the ecological situation around Lake  Sevan

ArmInfo.The Ministry of Environment of Armenia is carrying out a number of measures to restore the ecological situation around Lake Sevan. Voskeat  Grigoryan, Acting Head of the Department of Biodiversity Policy and  Specially Protected Natural Areas of the Ministry of Environment,  stated this at a press conference in Yerevan on July 22.

In particular, according to her, measures are being taken to clean up  the coastal areas, first of all, the flooded forests. In total,  according to the department, it is necessary to clean up about 750  hectares of areas around the lake. The cleaning program is designed  for 2019-2021. Last year, as Voskehat Grigoryan noted, 98 hectares of  territories were cleared, this year it is planned to carry out  similar work on another 271 hectares, of which 50 hectares of  territory have already been cleared in 2020.

Another problem, the head of the department continued, is  construction projects that are subject to dismantling. In total,  there are 1,724 such buildings, of which 31 are the property of the  state and local communities. In 2020, it is planned to dismantle 24  buildings at the expense of the state budget. As for the buildings of  private individuals, agreements have been concluded with them on  dismantling on their own.  With the Ministry of Territorial  Administration and Infrastructures of the Republic of Armenia and  "Veolia Jur" company, a program of construction of biological  treatment plants in the cities of Gavar, Martuni and Vardenis will be  implemented. The feasibility study of the project should be completed  by the end of this year, after which construction work will begin.  Also, a program for the construction of local treatment plants is  being implemented with large business entities, of which 17 have  already been installed. This program will be expanded. The head of  the department stressed that the EU has provided Armenia with a grant  in the amount of 5 million euros to solve the lake's problems, and  the directions of using these funds are currently being discussed.  First of all, attention will be paid to preventing sewage and solid  waste from entering Sevan.

In order to combat poaching and illegal fishing, whitefish fishing is  allowed by a government decision. This year this volume will be  200  tons. This measure, as noted by Voskehat Grigoryan, pursues only one  goal - to transfer the problem to the legal field. In addition, this  year, 300 thousand ishkhan fry were released into the lake, and a  project to restore the population of the kogak, which, in fact, is  the orderly of Lake Sevan, is under development.

It should be reminded that earlier ArmInfo reported that the European  Union will provide Armenia with 5 million euros of grant funds to  solve the problems of Lake Sevan. The implementation of the project  will reduce water releases from the lake and improve water quality.  Within the framework of the program, it is envisaged to carry out  other events related to Sevan. The program envisages the construction  of three treatment plants in Martuni, Gavar and Vardenis. To this  end, a "road map" has been developed, within the framework of which a  group of international engineers is in Armenia, which is working on  the issue of cleaning plants. 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 very heart of the  Armenian Highlands, at an altitude of 1914 meters. This year, like  last year, blue-green algae bloomed in large quantities in the lake,  after which the Ministry of Health of Armenia urged the country's  residents not to swim in these parts of the lake, since these algae  are toxic. In turn, the "blooming" of Sevan caused serious concern of  ecologists, who sounded the alarm. Moreover, the experts stated that  it is necessary to take appropriate measures and save Sevan. Two  versions are put forward as the reasons for the flowering of Sevan,  according to the first - the reason is the spread of blue-green  algae, as the second - a decrease in the water level in the lake.