EPF: Lake Goycha is polluted by illegal mining waste

Environmental Protection First Coalition has addressed Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan with a statement on the environmental damage near Goycha Lake, Azernerws reports.

The statement says that Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan should realise the extent of environmental damage caused by the non-transparent activities of the mining enterprises entrusted to foreign investors near Lake Goycha.

This approach will probably solve the problem of water purification, which has not found a solution for many years, the Coalition believes.

Pashinyan was responding to protests by Armenian and Azerbaijani NGOs and environmental activists over the pollution of freshwater resources resulting from the exploitation of the Amuldag field without observing environmental norms.

During the government session, he acknowledged that wastewater is discharged into Lake Goycha without prior treatment. Pashinyan also agreed that despite years of discussions, no final solution to the problem has been found so far, and Armenia does not have the necessary funds and resources for that. The head of the government emphasised that despite the participation of international partners in the process of water purification, after a certain period of time the lake becomes polluted again.

The original name of the Sevan Lake is Gokhca, which means "blue river" in Turkish. There were a lot of Azerbaijanis living around the lake until 1988. Armenia deported more than 250,000 Azerbaijanis in January, 1988, as a result of its ethnic cleansing policy. Afterwards, the Armenian authorities falsified the etymology of the lake and changed its name to "Sevan".

Recall, in 2014, Armenian government's decision has led to a critical situation for Lake Sevan, creating the possibility of water logging.

The government disapproved a decision on rising water level in the country's only guaranteed major source of fresh water for the next five years, during which Lake Sevan will face negative ecological disasters.

Former director of the National Park Sevan ecologist Gagik Sukhudyan has warned that the government's violation of the law on Sevan has created a critical situation.

"The government has adopted a decision on draining an additional 70 million cubic meters of water, and it means that some 240 million cubic meters of water will be drained," he said.

Under the law, only 170 million cubic meters of water can be drained from the lake every year.