Epress.am News from Armenia
The Armenian government explained its decision to increase the water drained from Lake Sevan by its desire to ensure irrigation water for villagers in the Ararat Valley; however, the Sevan-Hrazdan Cascade hydropower system owned by Russian hydroelectricity company RusHydro will also benefit from this decision, said Environmental Public Alliance coordinator Silva Adamyan, in conversation with Epress.am.
Studying the documents and researching the project has shown that the water drained from the lake will pass through the Sevan-Hrazdan Cascade, which will convert it into electricity and sell it at a higher price, ensuring greater profits, said Adamyan.
"Receiving those earning will be not our government but RusHydro. Who will answer for this, when the state sells all the items of strategic significance to foreigners? It sold the Vorotan [Complex of HPPs] to the Americans; the Sevan-Hrazdan Cascade to the Russians… We have nothing — everything belongs to foreigners: half belongs to the US, half to Russia, and half to Europe," she said.
The environmental activist said that experts raised this issue also in parliament, so now no one can accused them for being unwilling to cooperate with state bodies.
"They raised the issue of water drainage from Lake Sevan repeatedly during parliamentary hearings, but nothing helped. We don't know anymore in what language to speak… We've sent thousands of letters, beginning from the ministries to the president, but we see that nothing's changed.
"When we visited the Ararat Valley, we spoke with the people, and they said even if you can bring water from [Lake] Sevan somehow to them, they don’t want it — ‘You shouldn’t touch [Lake] Sevan,’ [they said]. This is what the people say, who, really, do have a problem of water in Ararat Valley. And why does it have this problem? Because our ‘highly respected’ former Minister of Nature Protection [Aram Harutyunyan], without conducting research and making calculations, gave all the artesian water to the fish farmers — bringing the Ararat plains to this state. Instead of subjecting this man to criminal liability, they appointed him governor of Kotayk marz [province]," she said.