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Institute for War and Peace Reporting, UK
IWPR Caucasus Reporting # 750
Sept 5 2014
Armenia's Parched Heartland
Government decides to draw more water from already overstretched resources.
By Lilit Arakelyan - Caucasus
Desperate to address growing water shortages in the Ararat valley, the
Armenian authorities have taken extreme measures by reopening disused
wells and boosting the outflow from Lake Sevan.
The valley covers the Armavir and Ararat regions, and serves as
Armenia's breadbasket.
Experts say the over-consumption of water has nothing to do with
agricultural irrigation and that instead, it is a result of a recent
growth industry, fish farming. They say the authorities should be
regulating and curbing the fish farms rather than drawing off
unsustainable amounts from the lake and groundwater reserves.
Local farmers say that agriculture is becoming unsustainable as water
becomes scarce.
"I sold my 3,000-square-metere plot because there was no water to
irrigate it," Hranush Aghasyan, a smallholder in the Ararat region,
told IWPR. "We only have a small garden in our yard..... We don't even
have drinking water. The water we get is either dirty or smells
terrible."
Hovhannes Grigoryan from the village of Goravan, also in Ararat
region, is one of many who have to buy in water to keep their crops
irrigated. He pays 6,000 drams (15 US dollars) for 6,000 litres -
enough to keep his vegetable plot going for ten days.
On August 14, the government approved an increase in the volume of
water taken from Lake Sevan from 170 to 270 million cubic metres a
year. Though a large increase, it is not the maximum possible -
parliament changed the law in 2012 to allow a 320 cu m annual outflow.
The increase runs contrary to the aims of a World Bank-backed
programme launched in 2002 which has seen water levels rise by more
than four metres, partially restoring the steady decline since 1949
caused by Soviet schemes to channel off water from Armenia's major
freshwater resource. (See Setback for Armenia's Lake Sevan and Trout
Fishing in Armenia.)
The decision followed another policy reverse in mid-July in which the
authorities ruled that 220 artesian wells in the Ararat valley should
be put back into use. The previous policy was to mothball wells or
remove them completely so as not to overuse groundwaters.
According to Ruben Yadoyan, who heads a non-government group called
Geological Engineer, there is no scientific method to the way wells
are used in the Ararat valley region. No geological surveys are done,
there are no relevant maps, and no one regulates how much is drawn
off.
"It isn't a bucket of water," he said. "There's a whole dynamic to
water resources."
Seyran Minasyan of the Institute for Chemical Physics says the
valley's groundwaters are being depleted.
"The fact is that more water is taken out of the Ararat valley's basin
than the replenishing reserves allow," he said. "It's estimated that
replenishing water reserves amount to one billion cubic metres on an
annualised basis, but 1.7 billion cu m is being consumed."
Environmentalists say the Ararat valley's water shortage is due mainly
to the nearly 270 fish farms set up in artificial ponds which consume
great volumes of water, much of it from specially-dug wells. (IWPR
reported on this in 2010 in Armenia Worries Over Groundwater
Depletion.)
Critics of government policy on fish farms say the reason their water
consumption is not regulated is that many belong to powerful
politicians.
"The government is doing nothing to improve the situation, and is just
acting to satisfy the business interests of a few individuals," Inga
Zarafyan, head of the Ecolur environmental group Ecolur, told IWPR.
In December 2013, Zaruhi Postanjyan of the Heritage Party told fellow
members of parliament that fish farm owners included several of their
number and the prime minister.
"The government is lobbying for the interests of large fish-farming
businesses," she said.
Armenia's agriculture ministry insists it taking new steps to improve
water management. In a statement for IWPR, the ministry's public
relations office said new boreholes were banned, illegal ones would be
shut down by a special commission, and legal wells would be numbered
and monitored. New reservoirs will be constructed to ensure arable
farm have the irrigation water they need, and there is a plan to
reduce water use by fish farms by 70 per cent.
Mikael Melkumyan, a member of parliament from the Prosperous Armenia
party, doubts the government will succeed in imposing a system that
reconciles the conflicting interests of agriculture and fish farming.
Minasyan argues that current government policy lacks coherence.
"First they say that water resources in the Ararat valley are
declining so they need to compensate by letting off more water from
Lake Sevan, then they say they plan to reopen 112 wells," he told
IWPR. "Lake Sevan and the Ararat valley are Armenia's most vital
areas, and they are being destroyed by policies of this kind."
Lilit Arakelyan is a reporter for Araratnews.am.
http://iwpr.net/report-news/armenias-parched-heartland?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&ut m_campaign=Feed%3A+iwprstories+(All+IWPR+Stories)
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
IWPR Caucasus Reporting # 750
Sept 5 2014
Armenia's Parched Heartland
Government decides to draw more water from already overstretched resources.
By Lilit Arakelyan - Caucasus
Desperate to address growing water shortages in the Ararat valley, the
Armenian authorities have taken extreme measures by reopening disused
wells and boosting the outflow from Lake Sevan.
The valley covers the Armavir and Ararat regions, and serves as
Armenia's breadbasket.
Experts say the over-consumption of water has nothing to do with
agricultural irrigation and that instead, it is a result of a recent
growth industry, fish farming. They say the authorities should be
regulating and curbing the fish farms rather than drawing off
unsustainable amounts from the lake and groundwater reserves.
Local farmers say that agriculture is becoming unsustainable as water
becomes scarce.
"I sold my 3,000-square-metere plot because there was no water to
irrigate it," Hranush Aghasyan, a smallholder in the Ararat region,
told IWPR. "We only have a small garden in our yard..... We don't even
have drinking water. The water we get is either dirty or smells
terrible."
Hovhannes Grigoryan from the village of Goravan, also in Ararat
region, is one of many who have to buy in water to keep their crops
irrigated. He pays 6,000 drams (15 US dollars) for 6,000 litres -
enough to keep his vegetable plot going for ten days.
On August 14, the government approved an increase in the volume of
water taken from Lake Sevan from 170 to 270 million cubic metres a
year. Though a large increase, it is not the maximum possible -
parliament changed the law in 2012 to allow a 320 cu m annual outflow.
The increase runs contrary to the aims of a World Bank-backed
programme launched in 2002 which has seen water levels rise by more
than four metres, partially restoring the steady decline since 1949
caused by Soviet schemes to channel off water from Armenia's major
freshwater resource. (See Setback for Armenia's Lake Sevan and Trout
Fishing in Armenia.)
The decision followed another policy reverse in mid-July in which the
authorities ruled that 220 artesian wells in the Ararat valley should
be put back into use. The previous policy was to mothball wells or
remove them completely so as not to overuse groundwaters.
According to Ruben Yadoyan, who heads a non-government group called
Geological Engineer, there is no scientific method to the way wells
are used in the Ararat valley region. No geological surveys are done,
there are no relevant maps, and no one regulates how much is drawn
off.
"It isn't a bucket of water," he said. "There's a whole dynamic to
water resources."
Seyran Minasyan of the Institute for Chemical Physics says the
valley's groundwaters are being depleted.
"The fact is that more water is taken out of the Ararat valley's basin
than the replenishing reserves allow," he said. "It's estimated that
replenishing water reserves amount to one billion cubic metres on an
annualised basis, but 1.7 billion cu m is being consumed."
Environmentalists say the Ararat valley's water shortage is due mainly
to the nearly 270 fish farms set up in artificial ponds which consume
great volumes of water, much of it from specially-dug wells. (IWPR
reported on this in 2010 in Armenia Worries Over Groundwater
Depletion.)
Critics of government policy on fish farms say the reason their water
consumption is not regulated is that many belong to powerful
politicians.
"The government is doing nothing to improve the situation, and is just
acting to satisfy the business interests of a few individuals," Inga
Zarafyan, head of the Ecolur environmental group Ecolur, told IWPR.
In December 2013, Zaruhi Postanjyan of the Heritage Party told fellow
members of parliament that fish farm owners included several of their
number and the prime minister.
"The government is lobbying for the interests of large fish-farming
businesses," she said.
Armenia's agriculture ministry insists it taking new steps to improve
water management. In a statement for IWPR, the ministry's public
relations office said new boreholes were banned, illegal ones would be
shut down by a special commission, and legal wells would be numbered
and monitored. New reservoirs will be constructed to ensure arable
farm have the irrigation water they need, and there is a plan to
reduce water use by fish farms by 70 per cent.
Mikael Melkumyan, a member of parliament from the Prosperous Armenia
party, doubts the government will succeed in imposing a system that
reconciles the conflicting interests of agriculture and fish farming.
Minasyan argues that current government policy lacks coherence.
"First they say that water resources in the Ararat valley are
declining so they need to compensate by letting off more water from
Lake Sevan, then they say they plan to reopen 112 wells," he told
IWPR. "Lake Sevan and the Ararat valley are Armenia's most vital
areas, and they are being destroyed by policies of this kind."
Lilit Arakelyan is a reporter for Araratnews.am.
http://iwpr.net/report-news/armenias-parched-heartland?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&ut m_campaign=Feed%3A+iwprstories+(All+IWPR+Stories)
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress