RISE OF LAKE SEVAN COULD DRAIN ARMENIA’S TREASURY
By Arevhat Grigorian

Environment News Service
Sept 26 2005

YEREVAN, Armenia, September 26, 2005 (ENS) – Armenian ecologists fear
a rare environmental triumph is in danger of going wrong. Buildings
and beaches around Lake Sevan are rapidly disappearing under water
as efforts by scientists and environmentalists to reverse the decline
of this huge freshwater reservoir pay off more quickly than expected.

Despite the fact the encroaching waters could soon be lapping at
their windows, many who live and work around the Armenian lake are
delighted to see it returning to former levels.

“I’d like to see the water rise as much as possible, and if necessary,
we’ll just move the building to another place,” said Norik Simonian,
a bookkeeper at a motel located on the lake.

Azat, who rents part of the beach, where he has set up cafes and
other visitor attractions, agreed, “What would happen if the water
level did not rise, and the lake turned into a swamp? There’d be no
business then anyway.”

Lake Sevan, one of the highest altitude lakes in the world, began
dwindling in the 1930s under a plan to use its waters for irrigation
and hydroelectricity. A paradise of beach resorts and holiday villas
sprang up along the lake’s edge.

Trees and summerhouses around Lake Sevan disappear from view as
lake waters rise. (Photo Michael Gfoeller courtesy Virtual Armenia)
But as the water levels began to fall, changes in temperature
and oxygen supply depleted fish reserves. In particular, several
varieties of trout vanished and other species are on the verge of
extinction. Birds also abandoned the area as the nests they had once
built close to the water’s edge were left stranded far from the newly
exposed shoreline. The lake itself was used as a waste dump.

Faced with this ecological disaster, environmentalists have been
campaigning for years to get the government to take action to restore
the water to its former levels.

The government stopped using Lake Sevan for energy in 1999 and two
years later parliament passed a law decreeing the water should be
raised to 1,903 meters (6,243 feet) above sea level, the height at
which experts say it will be possible to regulate the temperature
and oxygen levels and restore the ecological balance.

“Beginning in the 1930s we ‘borrowed’ 26 billion cubic meters (34
billion cubic yards) of water from Lake Sevan in order to satisfy
our energy and food production needs,” said Vladimir Movsisian,
vice-president of the Expert Commission on Lake Sevan and a member of
the National Council of Water. “We should now return at least eight
billion to the lake so that we can take water from it in the future
if the needs arises.”

Water is now flowing into the lake through tunnels from the Arpa and
Vorotan rivers, and 410 hectares (1,013 acres) of land have already
disappeared.

By the time the lake hits its target level, 10 times that amount will
be under water, of which 3,130 hectares (7,734 acres) are forest and
the rest resorts, private mansions, arable land and 30 kilometers
(20 miles) of highways.

But this Armenian environmental solution is in danger of taking a
wrong turn.

Scientists had predicted it would take 30 years to refill the lake,
but now forecast that could happen in just 15, as water pours in faster
than expected, helped by unexpectedly high levels of precipitation.

View of Lake Sevan from space (Photo courtesy NASA) Though they do
not know if the water will continue to rise at this rate, it seems
likely that money will have to be found sooner than expected to carry
out crucial preparatory work along the shoreline.

This could be a problem as the government has only a fraction of the
estimated US$30 million needed to remove trees, shrubs and buildings
from areas that will eventually be flooded.

So far, just US$150,000 have been allocated to clear an area of 100
hectares (247 acres) already under water, with work scheduled to
begin in November. Early estimates suggest another US$200,000 will
be needed next year.

Environmental campaigners are worried that if money is not found
to sweep up the rest of the rapidly disappearing land, the flooded
forests will begin to rot and poison the lake.

“We’ve seen this since Soviet times when water reservoirs were filled
without a prior cleanup,” said Karine Danielian, chairperson of the
nongovernmental organization For Sustainable Human Development.

“The water became toxic and the reservoirs became useless for drinking
water. It’s those who are responsible for clearing the land, but who
don’t want to take responsibility for it, who say the damage will
be minimal.”

Movsisian is also concerned.

“The rotting of the forest mass is not a danger to the lake now. But
if no measures are taken in the future and 3,700 hectares of forest
go under water, then it will become a problem,” he said.

Boris Gabrielian, deputy director of the Institute of Hydro-Ecology
and Ichthyology at the Armenian National Academy of Sciences, agrees
that additional organic matter could harm the lake and cause swamps to
form. However, he points out, “the raised water level would improve
the quality of the water, and the benefit from this will be greater
than any damage caused by the forests going underwater.”

Artashes Ziroian, head of the governmental Agency for the Preservation
of Biological Resources, appeared relaxed about the situation,
suggesting there is no need to begin clearing trees immediately.

“Next year the water level might not go up by so much, and the forests
will have been cut prematurely,” said Ziroian.

Armenian Environment Minister Vardan Aivazian is also wary of
ecological doom-mongers, suggesting the flooded shoreline poses no
current threat.

A beached boat left behind long ago by the recession of Lake
Sevan’s shoreline (Photo by Tim Jones courtesy Ramsar Convention)
Environmentalists, however, are suspicious of Aivazian who raised
concerns in June when he said that new “scientific substantiation
of the environmental impact of the increase of water in Lake Sevan
should be given.”

Some speculated this meant the government wanted to stop the water
rising as it could not afford to clear the shore.

“To demand new scientific research today for Lake Sevan is like
treachery for the simple reason that the problem has been painstakingly
studied over a period of many years by many specialists in all the
relevant scientific establishments, not only in Armenia but in the
Soviet Union before that,” said Hakob Sanasarian, chairman of the
Union of Greens of Armenia. “Huge amounts of government money were
spent on this and they all reached the same conclusion – that the
water levels of Lake Sevan must be raised.”

The former chairman of the environmental committee of the National
Assembly of Armenia, now permanent member of the European Commission
for the Fight Against Desertification, Gagik Tadevosian, said,
“The survival of Armenia depends on Sevan. Where there is Sevan,
there is Armenia.”

Back on the lakeshore, Flamingo Beach has lost half its territory in
two years. Parts of the aquatic park are now under water though manager
Artur Avetisian dismantled all metal structures as the water rose.

He is now cautious about re-erecting them elsewhere as he has no idea
how fast, or how far, the water is going to rise.

Minister Aivazian said that the Armenian government will compensate all
those who own property which may be flooded, though he has received
no requests so far. He added that the silence could be because some
of the buildings were put up illegally.

“The increase in the water level of Sevan is more valuable than a
few peoples’ houses,” said Aivazian. To bring his message home, he
quoted one of Armenia’s richest businessmen, Gagik Tsarukian, who told
Aivazian that he would be ready to move his house to another location,
“if only, God willing, the water level of Lake Sevan increases.”

{Published in cooperation with the Institute for War and Peace
Reporting. Arevhat Grigorian is a reporter for the Hetq online
newspaper in Yerevan.}