Country: Armenia

Project Type: Hydropower Plants on Lake Sevan

Description:
Lake Sevan, one of the greatest freshwater high mountain lakes in Eurasia, occupies one sixth of Armenia’s total territory. 

Lake Sevan is a hugely important resource in Armenia not only for its water and biodiversity but also in Armenia’s socio-economic and cultural life, as well as its historic impact on the country’s development. All of the problems facing Lake Sevan are human induced, including the reduced levels and quality of the lake’s water, the ongoing destruction of natural habitats. This is resulting in the greater loss of the lake’s biodiversity such as the lake itself and the surrounding wetlands which are  significant breeding, nesting and wintering areas for migratory waterbirds. Twenty-eight rivers inflow into Lake Sevan and only one, the Hrazdan, outflows.

Since the Soviet period, numerous hydropower plants have been operating in the Sevan lake basin. They have severely affected the lake’s ecosystem, the ability for fish to spawn in the river’s estuaries and access to water for local communities for agriculture. These plants are both large scale hydroelectric plants (the water source is Lake Sevan) and small hydropower plants that utilize the flow of river water.[1] 

The total electric power generated by six hydroelectric power stations connected in cascade on the Sevan-Hrazdan is 561 MW, but electricity generation is dependent on the intake of water from Lake Sevan. The water is transported to Cascade Hydropower Plants (HPP) through open diversion canals and tunnels built in 1960. The heavy exploitation of Sevan for irrigation and hydroelectric purposes has already affected the water level and overall volume of water in the lake [2].

The practice continues today and Armenian environmentalists have raised alarm [3], especially when the government prepares bills for the additional intake of water from Lake Sevan. On the other side there is an ongoing development of the small derivation HPPs on the inflowing rivers that also affect the Lake’s ecosystems.

At present, 154 small-scale hydroelectric plants are operating throughout Armenia [4].  Thirteen small HPPs operate in the Gegharquniq region, including seven small HPPs in Lake Sevan Basin [5]. For many years, the local communities protested the construction of the numerous hydropower plants that brought devastation into the Area. One of the most visible HPPs is the 9,7 MW Argitchi hydropower plant constructed in 2013 in the Gegharkunik region. The project implementation was characterized by numerous illegalities [6]  and violations towards the local communities. There were many accidents when the hydro pipes broke and community lands flooded.[7] For several years, local communities have been fighting the hydropower plant to not take all available water through derivation channels and leave local communities lands without any water. This drastically affects people’s incomes in the area.

The situation is similar regarding other HPPs all over Armenia. The situation has caused numerous community strikes, written letters to the Armenian Government, court cases and so on. The Armenian Government adopted the Resolution on Defining the List of Rivers, where small hydropower plant (SHPP) Construction would be banned (8 April 2021). The resolution on “On Defining The List of Rivers” has been circulating within the Government since 2017. This prohibits the construction of SHPP on spawning sites for red-listed or endemic fish species or places that were overloaded with derivation pipelines by 40% and over. The newly adopted resolution prohibits the construction of SHPPs on 25 rivers [8] , including the Argitchi.  The basis for the resolution were the studies assessing the risks of rivers overloaded with SHPPs has been developed by Ecolur (add links https://www.e-draft.am/projects/240/about).