Sarsang Reservoir

The Sarsang Reservoir is a reservoir located between the Tartar and Kalbajar districts of Azerbaijan. The reservoir was formed by the construction of a dam on the Tartar River. The overall volume of the reservoir is 575 million m3. Overview Sarsang Reservoir was built on Tartar River by Soviet authorities in 1976. At that time, the district was part of Mardakert District (NKAO). The area of the reservoir is . The height of the dam at the reservoir is . The reservoir has the tallest dam out of all dams in either Artsakh or Azerbaijan. When it opened, the reservoir provided irrigation water for in the districts of Tartar, Agdam, Barda, Goranboy, Yevlakh and Aghjabadi. The Sarsang Hydro Power Plant has a capacity of 50 megawatts. In November 1992, in the midst of the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, the region of Mardakert came under effective Armenian control. The power plant, now operated by Artsakh HEK OJSC, is the source of 40-60% of Artsakh's electricity. Local authorities have expressed hopes for the reservoir to turn to a major tourism site in the long run. Environmental concerns Azerbaijan has maintained that the Sarsang Reservoir, due to poor maintenance, poses a threat to nearly 400,000 people living in the Karabakh lowlands which remain under Azerbaijani control. The country has taken measures to minimise potential damage that water evacuation could cause. In addition, the exploitation of the reservoir by the Armenian side deprived farmers from seven Azerbaijani villages in the Tartar District from accessing water regularly.