Vorotan River

Course of Worotan

Course of Worotan in Armenia ( beige area)

The Worotan (Armenian Որոտան, in Scientific. Transliteration Orotan, Azerbaijani Bazarçay ) is a river in Transcaucasia. The Worotan rises in the north of the Armenian province of Syunik and initially flows 119 km in a generally southeasterly direction through Armenian territory, and then another 59 km through the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, before he finally into the Hakari, a tributary of the Aras, opens. The provincial capital Sissian, villages and Aghitu Worotan, the monasteries Vorotnavank and Tatev and the Azerbaijani city Qubadli, which is controlled by Armenia, lie along its course. The Worotan flows through mountainous terrain and partly through deep gorges. During the Soviet period, three dams were built with hydropower plants on Worotan.

To raise the water level in Lake Sevan conducted since the early 1990s over a 48.3 km long tunnel, water from the Ketschut Reservoir ( between Gndevank and Jermuk ) in the Lake Sevan. Since the amount of water supplied was not sufficient to raise the water level, was begun in the Ketschut Reservoir in the 1980s with the construction of a 21.6 km long tunnel from Spandaryan reservoir at Worotan ( at Sissian ). The construction work had in 1988, after 18 km were completed, be adjusted as between Armenia and Azerbaijan broke out in an armed conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh region. In the late 1990s took you to build up again. The Worotan - Arpa tunnel was opened in 2004.