A joint session of the Technical Committee on the Use and Protection of Water Systems of the Water Committee (WC) and the Expert Committee on Lake Sevan Protection of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia (NAS RA) was held at NAS RA.

The session was attended by Aramazd Ghalamkaryan, Chairman of the Water Committee; Martiros Nalbandyan, Deputy Chairman of the Water Committee; WC sectoral officials; representatives of the Ministry of Environment; as well as Levon Azizyan, Director of the "Hydrometeorology and Monitoring Center" SNCO of the Ministry of Environment, who is also a member of the NAS RA Expert Committee on Lake Sevan Protection.

The agenda focused on the operation and maintenance of the "Arpa-Sevan" and "Vorotan-Arpa" water conveyance tunnels, as well as the justifications for establishing the annual volume of water intake from Lake Sevan for irrigation purposes. Reports were presented by Paruyr Hakobyan, Director of "Arpa-Sevan" CJSC, and Artak Ghazaryan, Deputy Director of "Jrar" CJSC.

As a result of the joint session, it was proposed to initiate two programs:

1. Assessment of Available Water Resources and Hydrotechnical Structure Capacity for Transfer to Lake Sevan: Within this framework, the technical and operational capabilities of the Vorotan-Arpa-Sevan hydro-system, along with the available water resources for transfer to Lake Sevan, will be studied.
2. Methodology for Establishing the Annual Water Intake Volume from Lake Sevan for Irrigation Purposes: Based on a mathematical model of the entire Sevan-Hrazdan water management system, this methodology will encompass the Kasakh, Azat, Aparan, and Vedi river basins. It will enable the evaluation of various water intake scenarios and risks to establish well-founded intake limits.

The objective of the proposed initiatives is to ensure a balanced approach between restoring Lake Sevan's water resources, preserving ecological requirements, and satisfying irrigation water demands.

The recommendations of the joint session have been submitted to the Ministry of Environment of the Republic of Armenia and the Water Committee to support the implementation of the relevant activities.