States News Service
August 12, 2009 Wednesday

CORPS OF ENGINEERS JOINS TEAM TO REBUILD ARMENIA’S WATER SYSTEMS

WIESBADEN, Germany

The following information was released by the U.S. Army-Europe:

More than most people, Armenians value water.

In the late Bronze Age, the Assyrians dubbed Armenians Nairi, or the
people of the lakes and rivers. Every July, the country celebrates
National Water Splashing Day, called "Vardavar," when citizens douse
each other – sometimes total strangers – with bucketfuls of water. In
fact, one of the most popular sites in the country is Lake Sevan, one
of the largest high-altitude lakes in the world.

And yet clean water is scarce.

About 50 to 60 percent of clean water is lost due to breaks, leaks and
gaps in the country’s disjointed network of pipes. In the capital,
Yerevan, water flows from the tap only a few hours a day. The fear of
water contamination is real.

To combat this crisis, the Office of Defense Cooperation in Yerevan
teamed with the U.S European Command and the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers to execute six fully functional, turnkey water systems
throughout the country as part of a single humanitarian assistance
project. Through EUCOM, ODC gained approval, funding and ultimately
the Corps of Engineers’ support for this mission.

"These are six separate projects that help six separate communities
throughout the country," said Charles Samuel, Caucasus Project Office
chief who is overseeing design and construction. "Together, they make
a statement that the U.S. values its friendship with Armenia and is
willing to help them in any way we can. I’m just happy to be a part of
the team making that happen."

In accordance with current host nation building standards and codes,
the $600,000 undertaking – collectively called the Renovation of
Public Water Supply System – seeks to partially or fully reconstruct
the existing water supply systems near the villages of Aghavnavank,
Antaramej, Karmir-Aghek, Sevkar, Ttou Jour and Vaghashen.

This includes disassembling, rehabilitating and constructing
reservoirs, fences, catch basins, wells and roughly 14 miles of
intercommunity pipelines to assist the villages, which have a combined
population of just over 9,000.

"We’re talking thousands of people who – some for the first time in
their lives – will now have clean, fresh water," said Samuel. "That,
to me, is a truly amazing contribution."

The project was introduced by CARD, the Center for Agribusiness and
Rural Development, a non-profit non-governmental organization
originally created by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to solve
agricultural and irrigation problems in Armenia. Executing the project
is CESCO Co. Ltd., a construction and engineering services company
based in Yerevan.

According to Samuel, CESCO, which normally provides heating,
ventilation and air-conditioning services, is on target to deliver all
six projects by the end of the year- on time, on scope and on
budget. CESCO’s work also includes the design, delivery, installation,
renovation and connection of utilities.

"We’re really very pleased and impressed," Samuel said about CESCO’s
work. "Their ability to adroitly handle a variety of complicated water
problems in a variety of remote regions throughout an already remote
country is impressive, to say the least. It’s one of our greatest
success stories."

In addition to providing an adequate and sanitary water supply to the
people of the six remote communities in the mountainous and
seismically active regions of central Armenia, the water systems
create the potential for an enhanced local economy through increased
irrigation, improving the local’s capacity to help themselves.

"Building partner nation capacity is our watchword at EUCOM," said
Charles Brady, EUCOM humanitarian assistance program manager. "We are
fortunate to be able to contribute to an improvement in Armenia’s
ability to help people."

Recently, the World Bank, USAID and others financed millions of
dollars in water system rehabilitations in Armenia, said Maj. Edward
Keller, bilateral affairs officer with ODC. While these have led to
improved supply, quality and financial viability of the water
utilities, they have mostly focused on Yerevan.

"This water project extends EUCOM’s reach of assistance [to] these
villages," said Keller, who is serving as part of Kansas’ Army
National Guard’s State Partnership Program. "[We] have also been
active with renovations to schools and hospitals."

These humanitarian assistance projects, Keller added, were started by
Lt. Col. Doug Peterson and Maj. Michael McCullough, both ODC chiefs
and former EUCOM staff officers who assisted EUCOM in building
friendships and positive relationships.

"It is great to be associated with such superb leaders who understand
how to carry out EUCOM’s strategy," said Brady. "I can’t say enough
about how important the ODC chiefs and their teams are in carrying out
DoD’s equities in the AOR and in particular the HA [humanitarian
assistance] projects."

The Renovation of Public Water Supply System project is one of several
the Europe District is executing in the south Caucasus. Other projects
include a $1.1 million renovation of a forensics lab in Yerevan as
part of the Department of State’s International Narcotics and Law
Enforcement program, and two high school construction projects in
poverty-stricken regions of Azerbaijan, valued at about $1.3 million.

Armenia and Azerbaijan are both U.S. coalition partners that have
allowed unconditional use of their airspace for support to operations
in Afghanistan. Both countries have sent troops to support overseas
contingency operations in Kosovo and Iraq, with Azerbaijan being the
first Muslim nation to do so.