YEREVAN. – “The passing of that bill was surprising because we evidently had a fairly snowy winter this year,” environmentalist and Armenia’s former Nature Protection Minister Karine Danielyan told 168 Zham daily’s reporter, reflecting on the law, which National Assembly passed on June 22, with reference to allowing a maximum release of 320 million cubic meters of water from Lake Sevan, the daily writes.      

‘“The Government’s explanation was that the months of April and May were dry and that, despite the snowy winter, the reservoirs are empty, the river flows have considerably reduced, and that the sole opportunity is [Lake] Sevan.  

They note that when the snow melted, it did not fill the reservoirs or the rivers, but, instead, penetrated into the soil. Water is never lost to anywhere. This also means that the soil should have been damper, the ground water, richer. There is a mystery here,’ she said.     

Also, [Karine Danielyan] expressed bewilderment over the Government’s reasoning that [irrigation] water will be scarce this year.

‘The nature seems to have contradicted. There has never been a time in Armenia when there was this much rainy weather in late June and early July,’ said Danielyan, and added that 170 [million and,] in case of emergency, 200 million cubic meters [of water] should be released from Lake Sevan,” 168 Zham writes.