Armenia`s Cabinet approves Annual Action Plan for Rehabilitation,  Conservation, Reproduction, and Use of Lake Sevan Ecosystem for 2026

ArmInfo.On September 25, the Armenian government approved the Annual Action Plan for the Rehabilitation, Conservation, Reproduction, and Use of the Lake Sevan Ecosystem for 2026.

As stated in the explanatory note to the document, given the  importance of the recently emerged problems related to the state of  Lake Sevan's ecosystem, the urgency of studying them, identifying  their causes, and implementing preventive measures, a number of  measures have been identified aimed at regulating the lake's  qualitative and quantitative problems. The program includes 17  measures, the implementation of which is expected to lead to: -  improving the ecological balance of Lake Sevan, - preserving the  biodiversity of the lake's ecosystems and its catchment area and  increasing the sustainable use of biological resources, - designing  and constructing wastewater treatment facilities, - effectively  developing the recreational sector, - improving the management system  of Sevan National Park, - developing and implementing socio-economic  programs for territorial development, etc.

The implementation of the "Wastewater Treatment in the Lake Sevan  Catchment Basin" measure envisaged by the project entails the  installation of modern treatment facilities in rural coastal  settlements, which is being implemented within the framework of the  "Creation of a Unified Wastewater Treatment and Disposal System for  the Villages of Vardenik and Tsovinar in the Lake Sevan Basin"  project.

The purpose of the draft resolution is to preserve Lake Sevan as a  freshwater reservoir of national and regional significance, restore  its ecological balance, and ensure the mandatory implementation of  programs and measures aimed at the sustainable use of the catchment  basin ecosystems. Lake Sevan in 2026.

The adoption of the project is expected to improve the ecological  balance of Lake Sevan, preserve the biodiversity of the lake's  ecosystem and its watershed, and enhance the sustainable use of  biological resources, clear coastal watersheds of forests,  effectively develop recreation, improve household waste management,  and enhance the management system of Sevan National Park.

As a reminder, on December 6, 2019, the National Assembly of the  Republic of Armenia amended the law "On Approving the Annual and  Comprehensive Programs of Measures for the Restoration, Preservation,  Reproduction, and Use of the Lake Sevan Ecosystem" in its second and  final reading and stated that the Armenian government would  henceforth limit water withdrawals from Lake Sevan.

It was noted that, according to current legislation, annual  discharges from the lake should not exceed 170 million cubic meters.  However, the authorities withdraw additional water from Lake Sevan  almost every year. The next increase in the permissible limit was  approved on September 12, 2025, to 200 million cubic meters.

Lake Sevan, the region's main source of drinking water and one of the  largest high- altitude lakes in Europe and Asia, is located in the  heart of the Armenian Highland at an altitude of 1,914 meters. The  lake stretches more than 70 kilometers from northwest to southeast,  and its surface area reaches almost 1,500 square kilometers. The lake  has only one source-the Hrazdan River (a tributary of the Araks  River). It receives 28 rivers, with a combined basin area of 2,776  square kilometers.