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WATER DISPUTE: ENVIRONMENTALISTS/OMBUDSMAN CONCERNED OVER LAW ON LAKE SEVAN
By Gohar Abrahamyan
ArmeniaNow
18.07.12 | 15:08
Amendments to legislation that allow additional drainage from Lake
Sevan are in the focus of environmentalists and Armenia's ombudsman.
This summer amendments to RA Law "On Establishing Annual and Complex
Program for Restoration, Protection, Reproduction and Use of Lake
Sevan Ecosystems" were adopted, under which in 2012, annual water
outlets from Lake Sevan will be increased from 170 million cubic
meters to 320 million cubic meters.
State officials consider the new bill to be necessary and nonhazardous,
and the Ministry of Nature Protection claims that the additional
water outlet from Lake Sevan will not result in the decrease of the
lake level. But environmentalists consider taking even one cubic
meter of water from the lake to be unacceptable and believe that
additional water outlets from Lake Sevan are not connected with
lack of water. The bill's critics say it is done because the rise
in Lake Sevan's level will cause damage to hotels and restaurants,
which belong to a number of officials.
Levon Azizyan, head of Hydrology Center of Haypethydromet Service
stated last week that the snowy winter and rainy spring were followed
by gradual rise in temperature, there was no intensive snow melting,
which caused less lake water.
"During the recent years the level of Lake Sevan has been rising by 50
centimeters as a result of spring thaw, however this year it rose only
by 23 centimeters. It is linked with only 50 percent of precipitations
in April-May. These precipitations were quite few and they did not
affect the water flow [to Lake Sevan] significantly," Azizyan said.
Armenian Human Rights Defender (Ombudsman) Karen Andreasyan also voiced
his concerns over the Sevan issue and made a statement which says:
"The ignorance of set procedural rules in case of decision-making in
environmental matters is impermissible, which result in the violation
of information accessibility, transparency of decision-making, public
participation principles. The draft amendments to legislation on
Lake Sevan were adopted hastily, without organizing public hearings,
without publishing the viewpoints of interested ministries and bodies,
without submitting to the Human Rights Defender's office."
By Gohar Abrahamyan
ArmeniaNow
18.07.12 | 15:08
Amendments to legislation that allow additional drainage from Lake
Sevan are in the focus of environmentalists and Armenia's ombudsman.
This summer amendments to RA Law "On Establishing Annual and Complex
Program for Restoration, Protection, Reproduction and Use of Lake
Sevan Ecosystems" were adopted, under which in 2012, annual water
outlets from Lake Sevan will be increased from 170 million cubic
meters to 320 million cubic meters.
State officials consider the new bill to be necessary and nonhazardous,
and the Ministry of Nature Protection claims that the additional
water outlet from Lake Sevan will not result in the decrease of the
lake level. But environmentalists consider taking even one cubic
meter of water from the lake to be unacceptable and believe that
additional water outlets from Lake Sevan are not connected with
lack of water. The bill's critics say it is done because the rise
in Lake Sevan's level will cause damage to hotels and restaurants,
which belong to a number of officials.
Levon Azizyan, head of Hydrology Center of Haypethydromet Service
stated last week that the snowy winter and rainy spring were followed
by gradual rise in temperature, there was no intensive snow melting,
which caused less lake water.
"During the recent years the level of Lake Sevan has been rising by 50
centimeters as a result of spring thaw, however this year it rose only
by 23 centimeters. It is linked with only 50 percent of precipitations
in April-May. These precipitations were quite few and they did not
affect the water flow [to Lake Sevan] significantly," Azizyan said.
Armenian Human Rights Defender (Ombudsman) Karen Andreasyan also voiced
his concerns over the Sevan issue and made a statement which says:
"The ignorance of set procedural rules in case of decision-making in
environmental matters is impermissible, which result in the violation
of information accessibility, transparency of decision-making, public
participation principles. The draft amendments to legislation on
Lake Sevan were adopted hastily, without organizing public hearings,
without publishing the viewpoints of interested ministries and bodies,
without submitting to the Human Rights Defender's office."