INTERNATIONAL EXPERT: STATE OF VOGHJABERD WASTE BURIAL GROUND DISASTROUS AND NEEDS URGENT MEASURES

ArmInfo
2010-04-20 16:01:00

ArmInfo. Urgent measures should be taken in regard to Voghjaberd waste
burial ground. "Everybody who yesterday (15 April) attended Voghjaberd
waste burial ground, could get convinced it is a real disaster,"
said John Vijgen, Director of International HCH & Pesticides
Association invited by the OSCE Office in Yerevan as an expert,
EcoLur NGO reported. On 16 April the OSCE Office in Yerevan held a
discussion of this issue with the participation of stakeholders such
the Ministry of Emergency States, Nature Protection and Agriculture
Ministries. The Ministry of Health didn’t send its representative. The
representatives of the US Embassy in Armenia, USAID and NGOs also took
part in this discussion. Deputy Head of the OSCE Office in Yerevan
Carel Hofstra presided over this meeting.

It should be mentioned that the waste burial ground is a deep pit
with no inner protective layer where more than 500 tons of expired
pesticides and weed and pest-killer chemicals have been buried. All
this is covered by two- meter layer of soil, which is now disturbed by
heavy equipment. Not only the pesticides have appeared on the surface,
but also their decay products and those of other chemical reactions
that resemble chokedamps by their composition used during World War I.

The drainage system is blocked with soil and doesn’t fulfill its main
functions, i.e. water disposal from the waste burial ground. Now
this water washes the surface of the waste burial ground with all
its content and flows down to summer cottages and "Erebouni" Preserve.

"Still in 2003 Brussels recognized this issue needs increased
attention. And now this already poses a colossal threat to at least
3 thousand people that are exposed to miasmas from the waste burial
ground," said Yelena Manvelyan, the Chairman of "Women for Health and
Healthy Environment" NGO. Under her, the investigation conducted by the
organization in 2007 showed that the weed and pest-killer chemicals
have already penetrated into the soil. "There is danger that they
may penetrate farther even to the water arteries of the country – the
Hrazdan and Araks Rivers," she said and added the public is expecting
the government to take active measures; particularly it concerns the
Ministries of Health and Nature Protection who bear responsibility
for the safety of environment and health.

EcoLur told ArmInfo John Vijgen proposed a plan of the following
urgent measures: permanent securing no access possible, provisionary
catchment of rainwater and deviation around burial, temporary covering
of open waste areas plus parallel collection waste, transport and
temporary storage, secure any worsening of situation, then get back
to normal scenario. The expert thinks that only after this plan of
urgent measures one may return to the normal plan scheduled for 3-5
years, and eventually, lays down the elimination of the waste burial
ground content.

The whole problem is that the state bodies give no official respond
in the form of decisions, decrees and instructions and the ministries
can take real actions in accordance with them. Only the Minister of
Emergency States Armen Yeritsyan examined the situation on the spot
nd applied to the Prime Minister. At present everything depends on
the factual steps taken by the government.