Today, water withdrawal from Lake Sevan for irrigation purposes was officially brought to an end. To mark this, representatives from the Water Committee, the Ministry of Environment, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and "Jrar" CJSC oversaw the sealing of the lifting mechanism drives on the left and right intake gates at the Sevan Hydroelectric Power Plant (HPP).

The drives at the Sevan HPP were unsealed on July 2 of this year, initiating the irrigation intake from Lake Sevan.

Notably, the 2026 irrigation season concluded with the lowest water withdrawal from Lake Sevan in the last 65 years, totaling just 75.3 million cubic meters. For comparison, 180.1 million cubic meters of water were withdrawn from Lake Sevan for irrigation in 2025.

At the same time, 183.5 million cubic meters of water were transferred to Lake Sevan through the Arpa-Sevan tunnel in 2026, which is 73.5 million cubic meters more than in 2025. Consequently, Lake Sevan's water level rose by 21 cm compared to the previous year.

The reduction in water intake from Lake Sevan becomes even more evident when compared to previous years. Specifically, in 2006, 2007, 2010, and 2011—when storage levels in Armenia's primary reservoirs were comparable to this year's indicators—water withdrawal from Lake Sevan ranged between 152 and 170 million cubic meters.