Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov claims that the Sarsang Reservoir can trigger humanitarian, environmental and man-caused disasters. The minister made such statement when receiving a delegation led by Milisa Markovich, PACE rapporteur on "the deliberate deprivation of the residents of Azerbaijan's borderline areas of water."
Elmar Mammadyarov informed the guests about the negotiation process for the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakhconflict, stating that "Armenian invasion of Azerbaijani lands" is the biggest problem, APA reports.
For the conflict to be settled peacefully, Mamadyarov said, Armenia should "return those territories." M. Markovich, in turn, said her report will be covering the Sarsang Reservoir and the River Terter and the problems it has brought about for local residents. The Sarsang reservoir is a large lake located in Martakert region of Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, formed by a hydroelectric dam. It is one of Artsakh's 61 water reservoirs.
Sarsang reservoir was built on Tartar river in 1976. The area of the reservoir is 14.2 km2 (5.5 sq mi). The overall volume of the reservoir is 575 million m The height of the dam at the reservoir is 125 m (410 ft).
The reservoir has the tallest dam out of all dams in Artsakh. Since opening, the reservoir has provided irrigation water for 100,000 ha (1,000,000 km) of agricultural lands in Tartar. Sarsang Hydro Power Plant with capacity of 50 megawatt is based on the reservoir and operated by Artsakh HEK OJSC. It is the main source of electric energy for Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (40-60%). With its beautiful surrounding nature, Sarsang reservoir is expected to be one of the major tourism centers of Nagorno-Karabakh Republic in the long run.