Ministry of Environment: Water bloom has started again on Lake Sevan  in Armenia this year

ArmInfo.This year, the process of water blooming due to blue- green algae has started again on Lake Sevan in Armenia. Deputy Director for Environmental Monitoring and Information of the RA Ministry of Environment Gayane Shahnazaryan stated this at a press conference in Yerevan on July 22.

According to her, flowering in the lake has been observed since 2018.  As a rule, it starts from the end of June and lasts until mid-August,  after which the process of decomposition of harmful substances  occurs, which stops within 2-3 weeks. It can be assumed, Gayane  Shahnazaryan continued, that this process will end by August 20. This  year, the flowering process began with some delay - from the  beginning of July.  The flowering process is influenced by a decrease  in the level of the lake and a violation of the ecological system.  For a number of years, accumulations of substances occurred in the  lake, which negatively influenced the state of Sevan. First of all,  we are talking about the discharge of sewage into the lake. As of  July 21, the level of Lake Sevan was 1978 meters, which is 3 cm less  than the same indicator of the previous year. At the same time, water  releases from Sevan in 2020 led to a decrease in its volume by 18.9  million cubic meters. m. compared to 2019. The reason for this, as  noted by the specialist, is global warming, which led to 20% -70%  evaporation. As a result, the intensity of the lake occupancy has  decreased. The current rates of occupancy do not yet allow us to  speak about the achievement of the ultimate goal of ensuring an  increase in the lake's surface by 6 meters.

Earlier, at a press conference, Deputy Minister of the Environment  Irina Ghaplanyan, referring to the conducted studies of water  quality, noted that some decrease in phosphorus is already observed  in Sevan, which indicates the activation of blue-green algae. Irina  Kaplanyan informed that among the negative factors affecting the  flowering process of Sevan water, in particular, the negative  balance, which has been repeatedly recorded in recent years,  pollution of the lake with household and other waste, as well as an  increase in air temperature due to climate change, are among the  negative factors. She recalled that earlier the EU allocated a grant  to Armenia in the amount of 5 million euros to solve a number of  problems in Lake Sevan. In particular, the experts developed a  document that includes three activities: the creation of a community  wastewater treatment plant; cleaning of river beds; reclamation of  the abandoned Sotsk deposit.  According to the Deputy Minister, the  document is at the stage of discussion with partner organizations,  and the above measures, in all likelihood, will be implemented from  September this year.

Recall that blue-green algae have caused the lake to bloom  unprecedented over the past 40 years in 2018 and 2019. Meanwhile, as  the Deputy Minister noted, at this stage, to predict the scale of  blooming  is difficult, since this process depends on the influence  of a number of factors. She also pointed out that last year the  flowering process of Sevan began in mid-June and lasted for several  weeks. As for the water level of Lake Sevan, here the Deputy Minister  informed that in the first three months of this year there was a  decrease in precipitation in the republic. Meanwhile, the situation  has somewhat stabilized since mid-April and May. So, by May 10th, the  May monthly rainfall fell across the country. Thus, as Irina  Kaplanyan noted, at the moment there is no negative balance in the  lake.