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CONCERN FOR LAKE SEVAN: ENVIRONMENTALISTS SAY GOVERNMENT DECISIONS WILL CAUSE IRREVERSIBLE DAMAGE
News | 18.03.14 | 17:12
Photolure
By Gayane Lazarian
ArmeniaNow reporter
Environmentalists warn that the two Government decisions on the
increase of water drainage from Lake Sevan and increase of fish
breeding and trout resource recovery are fraught with irreparable
damage for Armenia's biggest freshwater basin.
Gagik Tadevosyan, the co-author of the Law "On Lake Sevan", who chaired
the 2nd convocation National Assembly Standing Committee on Social,
Health and Environmental Issues from 1999 to 2003, has addressed
an open letter to Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan to stop all
the projects regarding Lake Sevan, because both projects would have
disastrous consequences for one the world's exceptional sweet water
resources condemning it to inevitable catastrophe.
"Thirteen years have passed since the law was adopted, but its
provisions are periodically violated. According to Article 10,
any kind of economic activities in different zones of Lake Sevan
that pose a potential threat to its ecosystem is forbidden. One such
violation is that small hydropower plants have been built on the rivers
feeding Lake Sevan," he writes. "The establishment of 74 fish farms for
artificial fish breeding (50,000 tons) on the shores of Lake Sevan with
annually 500,000 tons of artificial forage in the forms of nitrogen,
phosphorus and other chemical mixtures to be added to water, which
will trigger eutrophication (swamping) in the lake, a vivid example
of adversary effects prescribed in the law. Besides this, there is
a proposal to increase water drainage by 70 million square meters,
i.e. to make 170 million square meters 240 million square meters,
which is a deadly hazard for the lake, as we will lose our strategic
reserve of the freshwater and we will finally lose the lake..."
Water ecosystem expert Seyran Minasyan says during the years
of blockade and energy crisis (early 1990s) Armenia survived due
to Sevan, using its water to generate electric power and its fish
as source of food. Talking about the condition of the lake today,
he says it is in a very unbalanced state - indices improve by some
criteria, but get worse by many others.
"There is irreversible decrease of the phosphorous level and increase
of nitrogen. What used to make Sevan exclusive to the world, is no
longer there. Recent researches show that fish as strongly resistant
to changes as carp has undergone anthropogenic change on a DNA level.
Attempts to prevent the increase of water level poses a huge threat of
potential harm the lake would longer recover from. There is increase
of biomass in the lake, but it is not fish. It would take years and
finances to stop the beginning eutrophication [the enrichment of
waters by inorganic plant nutrients, namely nitrogen and phosphorus,
due to human activities.] and reverse the ongoing processes," he says.
On March 19, the parliament will discuss the bills on water removal
from Lake Sevan and fish breeding, but before then the ecological
alliance of Armenia (some 50 organizations) concerned over the fate
of Armenia's biggest freshwater source, as well as Orhus centers,
environmental NGOs, scientists and scholars, concerned citizens have
addressed an open letter to the president and the government to stop
additional water drainage.
http://armenianow.com/news/52787/lake_sevan_water_drainage_ecology_armenia
News | 18.03.14 | 17:12
Photolure
By Gayane Lazarian
ArmeniaNow reporter
Environmentalists warn that the two Government decisions on the
increase of water drainage from Lake Sevan and increase of fish
breeding and trout resource recovery are fraught with irreparable
damage for Armenia's biggest freshwater basin.
Gagik Tadevosyan, the co-author of the Law "On Lake Sevan", who chaired
the 2nd convocation National Assembly Standing Committee on Social,
Health and Environmental Issues from 1999 to 2003, has addressed
an open letter to Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan to stop all
the projects regarding Lake Sevan, because both projects would have
disastrous consequences for one the world's exceptional sweet water
resources condemning it to inevitable catastrophe.
"Thirteen years have passed since the law was adopted, but its
provisions are periodically violated. According to Article 10,
any kind of economic activities in different zones of Lake Sevan
that pose a potential threat to its ecosystem is forbidden. One such
violation is that small hydropower plants have been built on the rivers
feeding Lake Sevan," he writes. "The establishment of 74 fish farms for
artificial fish breeding (50,000 tons) on the shores of Lake Sevan with
annually 500,000 tons of artificial forage in the forms of nitrogen,
phosphorus and other chemical mixtures to be added to water, which
will trigger eutrophication (swamping) in the lake, a vivid example
of adversary effects prescribed in the law. Besides this, there is
a proposal to increase water drainage by 70 million square meters,
i.e. to make 170 million square meters 240 million square meters,
which is a deadly hazard for the lake, as we will lose our strategic
reserve of the freshwater and we will finally lose the lake..."
Water ecosystem expert Seyran Minasyan says during the years
of blockade and energy crisis (early 1990s) Armenia survived due
to Sevan, using its water to generate electric power and its fish
as source of food. Talking about the condition of the lake today,
he says it is in a very unbalanced state - indices improve by some
criteria, but get worse by many others.
"There is irreversible decrease of the phosphorous level and increase
of nitrogen. What used to make Sevan exclusive to the world, is no
longer there. Recent researches show that fish as strongly resistant
to changes as carp has undergone anthropogenic change on a DNA level.
Attempts to prevent the increase of water level poses a huge threat of
potential harm the lake would longer recover from. There is increase
of biomass in the lake, but it is not fish. It would take years and
finances to stop the beginning eutrophication [the enrichment of
waters by inorganic plant nutrients, namely nitrogen and phosphorus,
due to human activities.] and reverse the ongoing processes," he says.
On March 19, the parliament will discuss the bills on water removal
from Lake Sevan and fish breeding, but before then the ecological
alliance of Armenia (some 50 organizations) concerned over the fate
of Armenia's biggest freshwater source, as well as Orhus centers,
environmental NGOs, scientists and scholars, concerned citizens have
addressed an open letter to the president and the government to stop
additional water drainage.
http://armenianow.com/news/52787/lake_sevan_water_drainage_ecology_armenia