Tuesday, March 22 2016 09:00

One can already find desert plants in the Ararat Valley, Knarik Hovhannisyan, expert on water resources, said at a press conference on March 22.   

Several years ago, the Armenian Ministry of Nature Protection permitted fish farms to use 1.496 billion cu m, though the restorable stock of the underground water resources is 1.226 bln cu m. As a result, 122 out of the 638 artesian wells of the Ararat Valley have dried out, with 6,200 ha of lands remaining almost without water. 
Hovhannisyan said that although certain steps are being taken to stabilize the situation (for instance, decommissioning of illegal artesian wells), the general situation in the Ararat Valley is far from being perfect.   

"Over the past two years, some desert plant species have been found here," she said.  

The expert also stressed that the water supply and irrigation systems of the republic experience big losses.  Meanwhile, the relevant structures do not hurry to radically change the current situation.     

Hovhannisyan noted that some regions experience shortage of irrigation water and the local residents have to irrigate the orchards with sewage water.   
Earlier, USAID announced the launch of the Advanced Science and Partnerships for Integrated Resource Development Project (ASPIRED) - a three-year initiative designed to curb the rate of groundwater abstraction in the Ararat Valley to sustainable levels. 

The decreasing level of the groundwater supply and the uncontrolled use of artesian water by fish farms have left some 30 communities in the Ararat and Armavir marzes without reliable access to drinking or irrigation water, USAID Armenia Mission Director Karen Hilliard said. In addition, these water shortages pose a real threat to the country's agricultural sector, the socio-economic and environmental well-being of these regions, as well as the safety and security of Armenia's sole nuclear power plant, Metsamor, which relies on these water resources for its cooling system.