Water levels in Armenia’s reservoirs, especially large ones, are low and the authorities could authorize additional drainage from Lake Sevan for irrigation purposes, a senior government official said Tuesday.
Deputy Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructures Vache Terteryan told lawmakers at a joint committee hearing on the 2022 budget report that in 2022 the government authorized the drainage of 170 million cubic meters of water from Lake Sevan, but only 165,1 was used.
“This year we have rather little water accumulated in especially large reservoirs, especially in Akhuryan, Azat and Aparan. And it’s going to be a difficult year. We must do everything to mitigate the [consequences] of low water levels, but at a given time, together with the parliament we will be forced to discuss draining additional volume of water from Sevan,” Terteryan said.
Terteryan said authorities will do everything to try to avoid additional drainage, but a realistic assessment of the situation shows that it will be necessary.
For comparison, Terteryan noted that in 2021 the water level in reservoirs was 20-30% more than this year.
