EcoLur
EcoLur has conducted surveys in Taronik community in Armavir Region to find out to what extent the residents’ right to water has been adhered to. The survey showed that the community residents don’t have water of relevant quality and volume necessary for their life and safety, they have been deprived of the opportunity to deal with agriculture because of the lack of irrigation water, their incomes have reduced, they don’t have enough involvement in the discussions on water problems and don’t have any participation in the decision-making process in the water sector. “Armavir” WUC very frequently violates the contractual clauses of irrigation water supply. According to the respondents, the reason for all this is either decrease or drying out of the wells drilled for drinking and irrigation water, which is due to the overexploitation of groundwater in Ararat Valley. The residents also mentioned that over 55 ha of irrigable land areas in the community is currently not cultivated because of the absence of water. The community doesn’t have a sewage system for the discharge of household water. Though Taronik Community Municipality, with the support of “Organization of Saints of Last Days” has carried out the construction of 6-kilometer-long drinking water pipeline in the community. According to community municipality employees, an 85-meter-deep well has been drilled out which ensures water via a pipeline to 20-30% of the community. The problem of the other part of the drinking water has still remained as an insoluble problem for the community. As the community municipality employees assured, the water supplied from the new deep well complies with the quality standards of drinking water, nevertheless, a part of the respondents claim that water quality is insufficient and is not useful for drinking. According to the survey findings, over the last 10 years there have been significant losses in the income because of the lack of irrigation water, especially in terms of the income gained from the sale of vegetables and crops (72.72%). 100% of the respondents mention that the head office of “Armavir” WUC, the irrigation water supplier, doesn’t ensure water registration equipment, consequently they are not aware of the equipment check control, figure registration and lead sealing of the equipment in case of its non-operation. 42.96 % of the respondents think that “Armavir” WUC is distributing irrigation water in an unfair manner. The complete results of the survey are summarized in the “Brief Summary of Findings of Sociological Survey Carried out By Ecolur NGO in Taronik Community, Armavir Region, Within Frames of "Protect Your Right To Water" project, which you can find here.
This publication has been prepared within the frames of “Protect Your Right to Water” project with the support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), whereas the opinions expressed or the content of the publications don’t necessarily represent the official views and opinions of USAID.
June 27, 2019 at 13:05