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.