Tweet
AZERBAIJAN SARSANG RESERVOIR DAM THREATENS TO BURST
E&T magazine
June 11 2013
The dilapidated Sarsang Reservoir in Armenia-occupied Nagorno-Karabakh
territory poses an immediate threat to lives of 400,000 people,
a conference in Vienna has heard.
The 125m-high dam, that holds back a 12km long lake, was built under
Azerbaijani authority in 1976. However, it hasn't been given essential
maintenance since the Armenian occupation started two decades ago
and is now, according to local engineers and hydrologists, in an
'emergency condition' prone to structural failure or malicious attack.
"Sarsang reservoir has currently become a serious source of threat,"
said Azerbaijan MP Elkhan Suleymanov at a conference in Vienna entitled
The Geopolitics of Azerbaijan and European Energy Security.
"Obviously, any accident will result in both ecological crisis and
mass casualties of civilians and humanitarian crisis."
According to Italy's former vice-minister of trade and industry
Adolfo Urso, the situation bears certain resemblance to that of the
Vajont Dam, some 100km north of Venice, Italy, which resulted in a
terrible disaster in 1963 after the dam over-topped, killing more
than 2,000 people.
"With insufficient maintenance and repairs it will become a threat
to mankind and the international community must turn its attention
to these problems," Urso said.
The situation is further complicated by the ongoing aggression of
Armenia who, despite resolutions of the UN, the Council of Europe
and the Organisation of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE),
continues to occupy 20 per cent of Azerbaijani territory.
During the conference, Azerbaijan's Energy Minister Natig Aliyev
spoke also about the pending decision that a consortium of energy
companies will have to make in the near future regarding which one
of the two proposed pipelines will be built to bring natural gas to
Europe from the Shah Deniz II natural-gas field.
Shah Deniz, the largest natural gas field in Azerbaijan situated in
the South Caspian Sea might be connected with Europe either through
the Nabucco pipeline that is designed to run through the Balkans to
Austria or the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) via Greece and Italy.The
project now faces completion date as late as 2018.
http://eandt.theiet.org/news/2013/jun/sarsang-dam-run-down.cfm
From: A. Papazian
E&T magazine
June 11 2013
The dilapidated Sarsang Reservoir in Armenia-occupied Nagorno-Karabakh
territory poses an immediate threat to lives of 400,000 people,
a conference in Vienna has heard.
The 125m-high dam, that holds back a 12km long lake, was built under
Azerbaijani authority in 1976. However, it hasn't been given essential
maintenance since the Armenian occupation started two decades ago
and is now, according to local engineers and hydrologists, in an
'emergency condition' prone to structural failure or malicious attack.
"Sarsang reservoir has currently become a serious source of threat,"
said Azerbaijan MP Elkhan Suleymanov at a conference in Vienna entitled
The Geopolitics of Azerbaijan and European Energy Security.
"Obviously, any accident will result in both ecological crisis and
mass casualties of civilians and humanitarian crisis."
According to Italy's former vice-minister of trade and industry
Adolfo Urso, the situation bears certain resemblance to that of the
Vajont Dam, some 100km north of Venice, Italy, which resulted in a
terrible disaster in 1963 after the dam over-topped, killing more
than 2,000 people.
"With insufficient maintenance and repairs it will become a threat
to mankind and the international community must turn its attention
to these problems," Urso said.
The situation is further complicated by the ongoing aggression of
Armenia who, despite resolutions of the UN, the Council of Europe
and the Organisation of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE),
continues to occupy 20 per cent of Azerbaijani territory.
During the conference, Azerbaijan's Energy Minister Natig Aliyev
spoke also about the pending decision that a consortium of energy
companies will have to make in the near future regarding which one
of the two proposed pipelines will be built to bring natural gas to
Europe from the Shah Deniz II natural-gas field.
Shah Deniz, the largest natural gas field in Azerbaijan situated in
the South Caspian Sea might be connected with Europe either through
the Nabucco pipeline that is designed to run through the Balkans to
Austria or the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) via Greece and Italy.The
project now faces completion date as late as 2018.
http://eandt.theiet.org/news/2013/jun/sarsang-dam-run-down.cfm
From: A. Papazian