EcoLur
The pollution of the Akhtala River has continued in the last ten days. The river has turned yellow-brown. “Akhtala Ore Processing Plant” CJSC clarified that the Akhtala River was polluted with the brown soil due to construction work on mines. Oleg Dulgaryan, President of Community Mobilization and Support Center NGO, which monitors the Akhtala River, told EcoLur, “This yellow flow was observed both in 2018 and 2019, and ten days ago or a week ago. Groundwater contaminated with metals is dumped into the river. From Shamlugh to different parts of the whole Akhtala gorge, there are yellow sediments near the Akhtala River. It is an industrial waste that turns yellow as a result of staying in nature for a long time. That is not clay. If Nahatak tailing dump is not exploited and reclamation is carried out, it will turn yellow after a while. The tails of the "Explosive Gorge" tailing dump were removed and brought not far from the road, near the Aramyants castle. They are yellow now. At one time, the tails of the Nazik tailing dump were removed and dumped in the valleys around the Akhtala monastery, along the Akhtala River. There are also garbage dumps in Shamlugh, not far from residential houses. Those accumulations are also yellow. In various parts of the Akhtala River, water passes through these sediments and turns yellow. A week ago, I recorded that water also came out of the reclaimed Nazik tailing dump, mixed with groundwater, flowed into the Akhtala River and then mixed with the Debed River,” Oleg Dulgaryan said.
He noted that the employees of the Nature Protection and Mining Inspection Body visited the area related to the recent pollution case, took a sample from the river, but there is no information about the results of the studies yet.
Oleg Dulgaryan raised the issue of cleaning Akhtala from waste dumps during a public hearing held on June 5 in the enlarged community of Akhtala.
"I have offered to use that money, first of all, for the purpose of cleaning the waste dumps next to Aramyants castle. Our offer is fundamentally acceptable to them: according to the decision of the Government of the Republic of Armenia of December 15, 2016 1294-N, Aramyants Castle is included in the list of immovable monuments of history and culture".
Photo Credit: "Centre for Community Mobilization and Support" NGO
June 08, 2020 at 12:26