NO MONITORING OF UNDERGROUND WATERS DONE IN ARMENIA FOR PAST 14 YEARS
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 2, NOYAN TAPAN. No monitoring of underground waters
has been done in Armenia for the past 14 years. Whereas, as
T. Lennarts, Technical Director of the USAID Water Program, told
reporters on February 2, 90% of drinking water in the country comes
from underground sources.
T. Lennarts, who had participated in the seminar "Control of
Underground Water Resources Monitoring in Armenia" on the same day,
said that along with developing the Armenian economy, the RA
government decided to deal with the problem of controlling the
underground waters monitoring: a Hydrogeological Monitoring Center has
been founded. According to him, about 100 thousand dollars will be
allocated for monitoring every year, and the USAID is going to assist
with this.
The RA Deputy Minister of Nature Protection Hakob Matilian noted that
in the 1990s, the monitoring of underground waters was stooped in
Armenia because of lack of financial resources. Yet, in his words,
some work in this direction was done last year, particularly, studies
of deep wells were conducted in two marzes. The deputy minister said
that the main purpose of a monitoring is to determine the amount of
underground water resources and their quality in the country. By
previous data, these resources amounted to 3 billion cubic meters. 3
billion cubic meters of water is consumed annually in Armenia, with
underground waters making 1-1.5 million cubic meters.
H. Matilian also informed those present that a cooperation agreement
will be signed with the USAID with the aim of controlling the
monitoring, which will last about 3 years.