CONTENT OF HARMFUL SUBSTANCES RECORDED IN ARAX RIVER IN LINE WITH POLLUTION STANDARDS
Noyan Tapan
Au g 12, 2008
YEREVAN, AUGUST 12, NOYAN TAPAN. The 10th meeting of the
Armenian-Iranian working group on study of pollution of the Arax River
was held in Yerevan on August 12. The working groups of Armenian and
Iranian experts were set up in 2005 in accordance with provision 4
of the Memorandum of Mutual Understanding between the RA Ministry
of Environmental Protection ad Iran’s Environmental Protection
Department. The working groups conduct joint studies in order to
find the causes of the Arax River’s pollution and to prevent the
consequences.
In the words of Alfred Nersisian, head of the Ministry’s Water
Resource Management Agency, every month the Armenian working group
takes samples in Meghri-Iran interstate section adjacent to the Arax
River. The samples are taken in the observation points determined in
advance. These are places where sewage of industrial enterprises flows
into the river. A. Nersisian assured those present that the content
of harmful substances recorded in the Arax River is in line with the
pollution standards and does not pose any danger to the environment.
Ali Maleki Milani, the executive official of the Water Resource
Management Agency of the Iranian province of Atrpatakan, stated
that the waters of the Arax River have become quite clean thanks to
bilateral coopeartion.
According to him, the governments of the two countries attach special
importance to the joint struggle for cleanness of the Arax.
It was stated that hydrological obsevations, as well as collection
and analysis of data on the river basin will be carried out under the
Strategy and Action Plan of the RA National Water Program. Besides,
it is envisaged to update the geographical map of the Arax River,
the plans of the river basin which were developed in the Soviet time,
and the transborder agreements on management of water quality and
water resources.