“SOS Garni” Initiative
300 Garni community residents, Kotayq Region, Armenia, together with S.O.S Garni initiative have addressed an open letter to the Armenian PM Karen Karapetyan beating an alarm signal on the risks of the amended project of the Qaghtsrashen Gravity Irrigation System and demanding to hold new environmental impact assessment of the amended project. The copies of the letters have been sent to Ashot Manukyan, Minister of RA Ministry for Energy Infrastructures and Natural Resources, Artsvik Minasyan – RA Nature Protection Ministry, and Arsen Harutyunyan – Chairman of State Committee on Water Industry of RA Ministry for Energy Infrastructures and Natural Resources.
The letter says, ' There are loaning projects on the construction of new reservoirs in Armenia, while already existing Azat Reservoir will lose its practical significance because of the amended version of the Qaghtsrashen Gravity Irrigation System. The Azat Reservoir, which gets its supplies from the Azat River, irrigates aggregate 7100 ha of land areas near Yerevan and in Ararat Region, while the amended version of the Qaghtsrashen Gravity Irrigation System, which will use the water of the Azat River, hasn't had its impact on the Azat Reservoir assessed. The water intake for the Qaghtsrashen Gravity Irrigation System will be implemented in April-October months, i.e. in the same months, when irrigation is carried out in the areas irrigated from the Azat Reservoir. According to the Qaghtsrashen Gravity Irrigation System, a total of 1232 ha land areas shall be irrigated in Ararat region, out of which 378 ha are new land areas, while 854 ha have so far been irrigated from the Azat Reservoir.
We present the data on Azat Reservoir fullness for April – October 2016 according to the data provided by ''Armenian State Hydrometeorological And Monitoring Service'' SNCO: As of 1 April 2016, the Azat Reservoir with the capacity of 70 million m3 was filled with 43.3 million m3. The fullness indicator raised till 10 June - 70 million cum. Afterward, the reservoir fullness started decreasing and made up 17.2 million cum by the end of August, while as of 30 September, it made up 8.44 million cum and later decreased up to 7.48 million cum by the end of October.
June 08, 2017 at 16:09