Pearl’s Peril: Environmentalists warn Sevan’s level reaches critical point
Environment | 16.07.10 | 16:42
Lake Sevan is bogging up because of rapid increase of the water level.
By Siranuysh Gevorgyan
ArmeniaNow reporter
Armenian environmentalists constantly voice their concerns over Lake
Sevan’ bogging up; in recent years the level of the lake has been
raising, and now reaches 1,901 meters, as a result of which hundreds
of legal and illegal constructions, artificial forests around Lake
Sevan, highways and even gas pipelines are under water.
The green mass now submerged does not decay rapidly, and according to
environmentalist Karine Danielyan, the lake may not manage to overcome
the danger of pollution and bogging up through self-cleaning.
According to the RA Law `On Lake Sevan’ adopted in 2001, the lake
level was supposed to rise by six meters (becoming 1,903.5 meters)
before 2030, about 20 centimeters annually. But since 2005, the speed
of the lake level rise has been higher than it was planned, averagely
37 centimeters annually. This year Sevan was raised by about 60
centimeters. The rise of the lake level was possible thanks to the
abrupt limitation of water flow from Lake Sevan. The Ministry of
Nature Protection of Armenia states that if the current speed of the
lake level’s rise is kept, it would be possible to reach the 1,903.5
meters index in 2020.
In 2005-2008, the Government of Armenia assigned funds to clean about
100 hectares of lakeside territory annually. In 2009, when President
of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan had a tour in Sevan, he ordered to assign
funds for cleaning about 600 hectares (annually), understanding that
100 hectares is too small.
On Thursday, the Government of Armenia made a decision to assign 30
million drams (about $82,800) to the Ministry of Nature Protection to
buy and bring to Armenia a special excavator of Finnish production,
which can work in territories covered with water and forming bogs, as
well as to organize Lake Sevan cleaning works more productively.
`During previous years, the quality and volume of those works (Lake
Sevan cleaning works) were poor, because the companies which won in
the competitions [for implementing the lake cleaning works], did not
have facilities with high level of productivity, which are designed
for functioning in underwater wooded territories, and cleaning them of
bushes,’ the government statement says.
From: A. Papazian