

Irrelevant Drinking Water in Astghadzor
For more than 6 years, of Astghadzor villagers, Gegharkunik Region have been deprived of the opportunity to use water of the Astghadzor river. The river water flowing through the village was completely transferred to Zolaqar community in 2016 as a result of the implementation of "Management and Competitiveness of Community Agricultural Resources" and "Support to Financing Rural Infrastructures" projects. The projects were implemented with loans from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).
1 billion 237 million AMD have been allocated for the construction of the water pipeline alone. The water was redistributed without the participation of of Astghadzor villagers without considering their opinion on the project. No public discussions were held in the village, the risks of the impact of the project on the socio-ecological situation of Astghadzor villagers were not assessed. As far back as 2018, EcoLur sent a complaint filed by 40 residents of Astghadzor community, Gegharkunik Region, to the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), RA Human Rights Defender, demanding to recognize the project for Astghadzor village as unsatisfactory and return the water to the village by the financial means of the IFAD.
In 2019, IFAD independent experts arrived in Armenia to meet with stakeholders in Astghadzor community, the team of EcoLur Informational NGO, and Martuni Women's Community Council. RA Human Rights Defender also offered to go to court in connection with the complaint, which the local residents had done earlier, but without any result.
The residents also appealed to Prosecutor General of Gegharkunik Region to restore their violated rights. After appealing to all the bodies responsible for resolving the issue, the residents also appealed to Public Environmental Court, expecting the support of the public court to restore their rights. RA Prosecutor's Office, having received ruling BHD/03/20 by Public Environmental Court in 2020, sent it to Martuni Police for the preliminary investigation of the case.
However, under the decision by Senior Inspector of Investigation Group of Martuni Department of RA Police reached on 15.06.2020, the initiation of a criminal case was rejected. Astghadzor residents appealed against that decision to Gegharkunik Prosecutor, who replied in his letter dated on 06.07.2020 that Astghadzor residents had not submitted a statement about the crime, therefore, their complaint was not processed. Gegharkunik Regional Prosecutor Rafael Yeritsyan also rejected the complaint of a group of residents of Astghadzor community, Gegharkunik Region, as well as the complaints filed by the judges of Public Environmental Court about the inaction of Chief Inspector of Martuni Division Investigation Group. The prosecutor justified the rejection of the appeal because it was overdue.
For several years, this struggle for the protection of the interests of the people has not been resolved fairly. Even today, Astghadzor residents are deprived of the vital right to have clean drinking water. They also do not have sufficient irrigation water.
"It is poor-quality water, the deep water is not suitable for drinking, the animals do not drink that water. We used to have a thousand cattle, but now there is none, because there is no water. People grow seedlings but if there is no water from Lake Sevan, there is no water for irrigation. They say let's boost agriculture. But how can we provide that food if there is no water,” Astghadzor residents told EcoLur. Astghadzor Administrative Head Mkhitar Aleksanyan: "In Astghadzor, drinking water is taken only from deep wells, and irrigation water used to be high due to the large amount of precipitation, but water has decreased in parallel with the gradual decrease in precipitation. A pumping station was built in the 1970s, we still use it, it is an old worn-out pump, it is being repaired, but anyway remains inefficient." The residents mentioned that in order to solve the water problem, first it is necessary to think about finding a water source, and then only about laying water pipelines. You have to get water from somewhere, build a water pipeline," one resident said.
Residents are ready to submit their proposals to the forum in Martuni consolidated community for the discussion of socio-ecological policy. The socio-ecological policy developed for the community should be based on Martuni socio-ecological risks, problems, as well as on the priorities in data collection, needs identification and analysis of the socio-ecological database.
River Astghadzor
April 27, 2022 at 10:50