The head of the Belarusian Water Resources Research Institute says that the country will not be able to help Lithuania restore the water level in the Neris River.
Last week, Lithuania asked the Belarusians to help restore the level of a river that runs through both countries, which has dropped significantly due to drought.
The director of the institute, Aleksandras Stankevičius, told the Interfax news agency that there is not enough water in the reservoir at the source of the Neris River.
"Belarus has the same climatic conditions as Lithuania. Unfortunately, there is no excess water. The reserves in the Vilija (Neries) water storage are necessary to ensure the maintenance of the water balance in the territory of Belarus, including the supply of drinking water for about 30 percent. of Minsk residents", said A. Stankevičius.
"The current situation regarding the water level in the Vilija (Neries) River corresponds to the natural limits of the level regime; this is currently typical of most other Belarusian rivers. The main reason for this situation is the low amount of precipitation in the first half of 2019. As rainfall increases, the situation will improve significantly," he added.
According to A. Stankevičius, the possibilities to increase the amount of water released from the Neria (called Vilija in Belarus) water storage are also limited by uncertain hydrometeorological forecasts.
"If it were possible to know for sure that in 2-3 weeks there will be serious rains to compensate for the leakage from the water storage, [the amount of water released "could be increased], but there are no such guarantees," explained the head of the institute.
"If it starts to rain, the water in the Neri will rise naturally, so it makes no sense to raise the water level artificially," he added.
The Ministry of the Environment of Belarus told Interfax that it had not received any official letter from Lithuania.
"We have not received an official letter from the Ministry of the Environment of Lithuania with a proposal to increase the water level in the Vilija River," the ministry's press service said.
Last week, the Lithuanian Hydrometeorological Service declared a hydrological drought on a national scale, after it was determined that the water level in more than half of the water measuring stations is below average.
The river level was then 41 centimeters below the annual July average.
Neris is the second largest river in Lithuania after Nemunas. The source of this river is in Belarus, it flows through Vilnius, Kernava, and flows into the Nemunas near Kaunas.
