EcoLur
RA Environmental and Mining Inspection Body organized an expert discussion on SHPPs stating this sector to be a priority. 'The interest of the government in SHPPs in rather high to understand the reality. We have letters both from Prosecutor's Office and Nature Protection Ministry that it is necessary to carry out comprehensive inspections. The letter of Nature Protection Ministry is on the violation of water use permit conditions, however, the position of the Prosecutor's office is wider. That's why the inspection decided to view the issue in a wider context, from the root. We want to examine not the circumstance of violating water use permit conditions, but to review a wider context – problem with urban development norms and problems related to environmental impact. We need to understand to what extend dams and fish passways constructed comply with urban development norms. There is a cascade of 17 SHPPs in Yeghegis Gorge, where there is no river. When we check SHPPs, it turns out they all have permits and use far less water than it is laid down in their permit, but, as a matter of fact, there is no river. We need to find out to what extent the water permits comply with our legislation and make relevant proposals to the government and departments, including proposals on legislative reforms. This is within our competences,' said Arthur Grigoryan, Head of RA Environmental and Mining Inspection Body.
The experts of UNDP/GEF "Supporting new reforms in SHPP sector through CSO-government dialogue" implemented by 'EcoLur' 2014-2018 proposed to take the database on 125 SHPPs as a basis, which includes the description of each SHpp with 75 criteria, as well as proposals on how to reduce the overload on river ecosystems and environment, how to improve the operation of SHPP for the purpose of conserving the biodiversity. They also proposed to go through the SHPP-sector reform package developed in the frame of the project, which includes draft governmental resolution of the approval of inspection check sheets in SHPPs and eco-passportization of SHPPs.
November 26, 2018 at 13:31