The negative balance of Lake Sevan may exceed 12 sm by the end of the current year, the head of "EcoLur" NGO, Inga Zarafyan, told Arminfo correspondent.
In March 2014 Hydrometcenter predicted worsening of the water regime of rivers because of low rainfall in autumn 2013, especially in October-November, as well as low snowfall in winter.
Zarafyan said that when voicing the forecast on Sevan level, Hydromet took into consideration only the climate and weather conditions. "If we add legal and illegal water release from the lake, in that case the negative balance will exceed 9-12 sm", - she said and recalled that according to the decision of the government, water release from Sevan Lake were increased up 170 million sq/m.
She said that such a pressure on the lake contains serious risks to the ecological system, including fish and plants. "We already have some disappeared ecosystems, for instance, such rivers as Akhtala, Karchevan and Vokhchi died because of the mining industry development. And now we shall have another disappeared ecosystem called Lake Sevan", - the expert concluded.