^{Photo by PanARMENIAN}

The Armenian Government has approved a measure allowing rural economies to meet the irrigation water demand at the expense of the Sevan-Hrazdan energy-irrigation system.

Speaking at the cabinet meeting on Thursday, Prime Minister Tugran Sargsyan said that the shortage of water this year poses serious hazards to the rural communities in the Ararat valley.
 

“We have estimated the water demand per each hectare. It turned out that the water reserve we now have is going to be consumed very rapidly. So if we want to ensure a normal supply of irrigation water, we will be obliged to obtain the National Assembly's  permission for using an extra 150 million cubic liters of water from Lake Sevan to avoid problems in agriculture,” he said.

The premier instructed the State Water Committee’s leadership to consider the matter with a special commission dealing with the problem of Sevan. According to the committee’s chief, Andranik Andreasyan, there is a possibility to meet the irrigation water deficit at the expense of lake’s resources.

“An increased level of water allows us to use the lake’s resources to make up the deficit. Discussions with all the interested parties continue. We will obtain a corresponding decision in the near future to ensure that the rural economies have uninterrupted water supply in the irrigation season,” Andreasyan told reporters after the meeting.

This year’s shortage of water was caused by the lack of flows in the resources that used to irrigate most lands in the Ararat valley.