EcoLur
The SHPPs destroy the water ecosystems of Armenia. In compliance with the adopted environmental standards ISO 14000, water intake from the river over 20% leads to the critical state of the river, while over 50% results in the catastrophic state of the river. Nevertheless, none of the governmental bodies issuing permitting documents for SHPPs don’t take the load onto the river into consideration. If to take into consideration that almost all water is taken into the pipes in the sections of the river, where derivation system is laid, the load can be estimated with a simplified formula: to determine the ratio of pipe length to river length. If percentage ration makes up over 20, the river is in critical state, if over 50 – in disastrous state.
The first material is beating an alarm signal about the disastrous state of the Kistum River. The Kistum River is located in Lori Region and is the right tributary to the Debed River. It generates from the northern slope of Mrdzaqar Mount and joins Debed one km north-west from the Haghpat village. The river length is 13 km. As of 1 January 2014, according to the licenses issued by Public Services Regulatory State Service, “Haghpat-1” and “Haghpat-2” SHPPs are constructed on the Kistum River operated by “Ost-El” LLC. The derivation length of “Haghpat-1” is 300+280, 1350 meters, that of “Haghpat-2” - 4535 meters. Thus, a total area of 6465 meters from the Kistum River is taken into the pipes of the SHPPs, which makes up 49.730769% of the river. Under EcoLur’s Ecological Risk Model, this indicator shows the disastrous state of the river.
This material was made possible through the full support of Open Society Foundations – Armenia’s Policy Fellowship Program Initiative, grant number 18571. Ideas, thoughts, and arguments presented in the paper are the sole expression of the author’s views and do not reflect those of Open Society Assistance Foundations – Armenia.
February 14, 2014 at 14:03