Water intake from Lake Sevan to be less that 170mln cubic meters in  2025 

ArmInfo.In 2025, water intake from Lake Sevan will be allowed in the amount of up to 131.8 million cubic  meters. The resolution on this was adopted on June 5 at a government meeting.

As stated in the explanatory note to the document, according to the  water application submitted by water users, the area of land subject  to irrigation under the contract during the 2025 irrigation period  from irrigated lands under the control of irrigation systems fed from  the Sevan-Hrazdan diversion system was about 30 thousand hectares,  and the need for irrigation water in the upper reaches of the systems  and the volume of water discharged along the river bed to flush the  Hrazdan River (from the Akhbyurak reservoir to Lake Yerevan) will be  about 446.1 million m3.

The specified water demand is planned to be met by water from the  Hrazdan River in the amount of about 201.7 million m3, from the Azat  reservoir - about 65.2 million m3, from the Aparan reservoir - about  20.4 million m3, taking into account the forecast of water content of  the RA rivers for 2025, prepared by the State Non-Commercial  Organization "Hydrometeorology and Monitoring Center" of the RA  Ministry of Environment "Forecast of Spring Flood Elements".

At the same time, it is planned to ensure about 31.3 million m3 of  water production due to the operation of the Mkhchyan and  Ranchpar-Arevshat pumping stations at maximum capacity (a total of  318.6 million m3).

The difference between the need and the possible water intake from  the above-mentioned water bodies, water supply is about 127.5 million  m3 (446.1 - 318.6 = 127.5 million m3) (the revised forecast was  submitted by the authorized body), guided by the requirements of the  RA Law .

In this regard, the current decision of the Cabinet of Ministers  provides for the release of up to 131.8 million m3 from the lake for  irrigation purposes, including the water intake of 4.3 million m3 by  the water user company , as defined in the water use  permit.

Meanwhile, in 2023, the water discharge from Lake Sevan exceeded the  legally established 170 million cubic meters - reaching 228.234  million cubic meters, and in 2022, the figure was lower - in the  amount of 165.063 million cubic meters. In 2024, the volume of water  withdrawal from Lake Sevan amounted to 170 million cubic meters.

On December 6, 2019, the National Assembly of the Republic of  Armenia, at its session on December 6, in the second and final  reading, amended the law "On Approval of the Annual and Comprehensive  Programs of Measures for the Restoration, Preservation, Reproduction  and Use of the Lake Sevan Ecosystem" and stated that henceforth the  Armenian government will be limited in water intake from Lake Sevan.  It was noted that, according to the current legislation, annual  discharges from the lake should not exceed 170 million cubic meters. 

Lake Sevan is the main source of drinking water in the region, one of  the largest highland lakes in Europe and Asia, located in the heart  of the Armenian Highland, at an altitude of 1914 meters. The lake  stretches for more than 70 kilometers in length from northwest to  southeast, and its water surface area reaches almost 1.5 thousand  square kilometers. The lake has only one source - the Razdan River (a  tributary of the Araks), and 28 rivers flow into it, the total area  of whose basins is 2,776 square kilometers.