Azernews.Az

By Abdul Kerimkhanov

The water of Lake Sevan, which is the largest freshwater reservoir in Armenia, has begun to bloom, which could lead to waterlogging.

Recently, the BBC TV channel showed a story about Armenia under the title: “The famous lake of Armenia is threatened with danger from algae”. Experts polled by British journalists argue that if the Armenian authorities do not take any action, the lake will turn into a swamp.

In late June 2019, Armenian environmentalists sounded the alarm about the water blooming in Lake Sevan. They consider that this process began under the influence of such factors as a sewage discharge from coastal recreation areas, as well as accumulation of nitrogen and phosphorus at the bottom of Sevan.

Lusine Gambaryan, Senior Researcher of the Institute of Hydroecology and Ichthyology of the Academy of Sciences of Armenia, believes that the blooming algae in the Lake Sevan constantly accumulate toxins.

Silva Adamyan, Member of the S.O.S. Sevan initiative group, believes that Armenia may lose Lake Sevan in the near future if its attitude to the problems of the lake does not change.

Adamyan explains this by the fact that the water quality is deteriorating even faster than expected.

Eric Grigoryan, Minister of Environment of Armenia, confirmed that sewage was draining into the Lake Sevan.

Previously, the ecological situation around the lake was much better. Azerbaijanis lived along the shores of Sevan, which was called Lake Goycha. However, in the 1940s, Armenian nationalists deported a large part of the Azerbaijani origin population to the central regions of Azerbaijan, and in the 1980s the complete expulsion of Azerbaijanis from Armenia began.

The environmental threat to Armenia is not limited to the lake alone. The new government of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan had to take radical measures and to close the Alaverdi copper smelter, which polluted the environment.

Moreover, the Armenian Metsamor NPP operates in the country, threatening with the “new Chernobyl disaster" not only in Armenia but also in neighboring countries. A couple of months ago, an exercise was conducted in Turkey for the case a disaster occurs at the NPP.

Another interesting fact is that when the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Azerbaijan conducted monitoring of Araz river, it was revealed that the river is being polluted from the Armenian territory.

Forests were cut down mercilessly throughout Armenia, including natural reserves. Greens were destroyed, and forest fires occurred. In 2017, forest fires took on such a scale that Armenia had to call for the help of specialists of the Russian Emergencies Ministry because Armenia does not have its own aircraft rescue services.

Thus, Armenia can safely bear the label of the leader of the South Caucasus on environmental pollution.