ERMC/AUA.: State of the Environment Armenia

• Surface Water .
• Groundwater.
• Water Balance, Destribution, Storage and Availability.

Armenia is scarce in surface water resources. The rivers are mountainous and are tributaries of the rivers of Kur and Araks. There are more than 200 rivers with no less than 10 km in length in the republic.

Some 700 square km is covered by the Kur river basin (Debet, Pambak, Agstev, Tavoush, etc.), while that of the Araks - 22790 km2 (Akhourian, Kasakh, Metsamor, Hrazdan, Azat, Vedi, Arpa, Vorotan, etc.).

The hydrographic network is well developed in the flexed mountain ranges while is poorly developed in volcanic mountain ranges.

The spring melts, rainfalls and underground waters feed the rivers. The flow rates in the rivers tend to fluctuate greatly. The maximal level in the rivers are seen in May and the second water level rise occurs in September-October, while the least level - in summer and winter times.

The rivers and lakes of Armenia are mountainous and small with the exception of lake Sevan, which covers 1326 km2 of territory and situated at 1897 m a.s.l. Among others one can mention the lakes of Arpi, Kuri, Akna, Aigr and Sev lich.

The waters of the rivers are utilised for land irrigation, and to this end dams were constructed on some of them: Akhorian, Azat, Halavar, Aknalich, etc.