SCIENTISTS URGE GOVERNMENT TO KEEP BOOSTING VITAL ARMENIAN LAKE
By Ruzanna Stepanian

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Aug 2 2007

Armenian scientists have expressed serious concern about a government
proposal to stop raising the water level of Lake Sevan, warning of a
"irreversible" negative consequences for Armenia’s ecosystem.

The Armenian government was due to discuss a relevant decision
drafted by the Ministry of Urban Development at its weekly meeting on
Thursday. However, the government removed it from the agenda at the
last minute, in an apparent response to an outcry made by the National
Academy of Sciences. A spokeswoman said Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian
told ministers that the matter must undergo a more thorough examination
by experts and scientists before being decided by his cabinet.

Sevan occupies much of the northeastern Gegharkunik province, serving
as the landlocked country’s main water reservoir. It had shrunk
substantially throughout the 1960s and 1970s due to heavy use of
its waters for irrigation and power generation. The process resumed
during the severe energy crisis of the early 1990s when Armenia had
to increase its reliance on a cascade of hydro-electric power plants
on the river Hrazdan flowing out of the mountainous lake.

It was not until 2002 that the government unveiled and embarked on
the implementation of a Sevan rescue plan which was enshrined in a
special law adopted by parliament. The government committed itself
to gradually increasing Sevan’s level by several meters by reducing
power generation at the Hrazdan cascade and building a second mountain
tunnel supplying water to the lake from another river.

The tunnel went into service in summer 2002. According to the Armenian
Ministry of Environment, Sevan’s level has since increased by about two
meters. It was supposed to rise by another three meters in the coming
years to put Sevan’s surface at 1,908 meters above the sea level.

Some top government officials now seem keen to stop the process
on the grounds that the swelling lake is threatening to submerge
houses and other structures along its slanting coastline. Many of
them are expensive villas, hotels and entertainment spots built in
recent years despite a government ban on any construction below the
1,908-meter mark.

A special commission of the National Academy of Sciences dealing with
Sevan-related ecological issues is strongly opposed to any halt in
the lake’s enlargement. Its chairman, Fadey Sargsian, wrote to the
Armenian premier on Wednesday, warning that failure to raise the
lake to the planned level planned could result in its "irreversible
degradation." He pointed to a government decision whereby everything
built along the lake’s perimeter below the 1,908-meter mark is subject
to demolition.

Sargsian’s deputy, Rafael Hovannisian, said the government is
seriously considering the controversial proposal because of personal
interests. "It is obvious that that is being done to preserve
restaurants and villas," he told RFE/RL. "It is a disgrace. The
state ignores the problem of a whole lake for the sake of several
[wealthy] individuals."

The Environment Ministry’s position on the issue remains unclear. The
ministry declined a comment on Thursday, referring all inquiries to
the Ministry of Urban Development.