ECONOMY
JOINT PROJECT IN PROGRESS
The ‘Eurasia’ Fund’s office told AzerTac correspondent that during the fist phase of the project, all materials concerning study of situation in the reservoirs and issues of their preservation and utilization available for the last decade have been collected and analyzed with special attention paid to study of the legislative and normative acts in the countries regulating preservation and utilization of water resources. It was emphasized that according to the Georgian environmental legislation, water resources located in the country’s territory are State property and assigned for water consumption only. As it proved, preservation and utilization of water resources in Azerbaijan are being managed by seven departments that complicates existing problems as realization of certain measures for improvement of the reservoirs’ protection and utilization requires receiving consent from at least seven departments.
As a result, a joint expedition in the territories of Georgia and Azerbaijan has been arranged in the framework of the project to specify true situation: it has been revealed that the main reservoirs pollution sources are units of tourism and economical activity, restaurants, hotels, as well as the units of hydro-energy system.
For instance, main water pollution sources in the Tbilisi Sea /reservoir ‘Samgori’/ are over 25 private farms, tourist farms and rest units. Sewerage system does not meet the demands of the new farms. In Zhinvali, wastes are thrown out to Aragvi River. In winter, trees are cut down because of energy crisis around ‘Sion’ and ‘Tsalksk’ reservoirs. Lots of communications and technical units for water supply and irrigation systems have been destroyed within the last decade.
The expedition has shown the existence of the similar problems Shamkir, Yenikend, Varvar and Mingachevir reservoirs in Azerbaijan as well.
Two brochures highlighting the problems of preservation and utilization of the reservoirs in Kur River’s Basin assembled on the base of the materials collected and analyzed have been published in Azerbaijani and Georgian languages.