LAKE SEVAN LEVEL REACHES INDICATOR OF 1965

ArmInfo
2010-01-26 11:22:00

ArmInfo. As of January 1 2010 the level of Lake Sevan reached 1,899m
23cm. Such level was registered in 1965, Vladimir Movsisyan, Commission
for Lake Sevan, said at De Facto debate club on Tuesday.

"We have reached and even exceeded the level registered 45 years ago
by 5 cm: It is mostly thanks to the tunnel Arpa-Sevan that we reached
such level, he said. After repair of the given section (814 million
drams), 209 million cu m of water poured into Sevan over 8 months
of 2009 versus 192 million cu b over 12 months of 2008. Repair of
another 3km 360 m section of Arpa-Sevan tunnel will be completed
within the coming 5 years. The level of Sevan is supposed to rise
20-21cm in average yearly. So the lake will reach 1903.5 m above sea
level in 2031. As a result, 15 km of roads will be flooded. Only part
of these roads will be reconstructed and 4.3 billion drams have been
allocated for this purpose. Last year Sevan- Gavar-Martuni highway
of 2.1km was repaired (376 million drams). 11 km of water pipes and 4
irrigation systems will be flooded, as well as 19 km of gas pipeline
(their reconstruction will take 1.8 billion drams), 18 km power lines
(reconstruction will cost 1.6 bln drams). Sevan will flood also 2789
ha of forests and cleaning will require 1.2 billion drams. Last year
600 ha of woods were cleaned which took the country 257 million drams.

Movsisyan said that the ministry has relevant equipment for cleaning
under water and the issue is currently under discussion.