EcoLur
Shaqi Village located in Syunik Region is long famous for its freshwater. The Shaqi river starts in the village, where Shaqi waterfall is located, while a SHPP has been constructed on the waterfall.
Shaqi waterfall has always been the pride of Shaqi village and attracted many tourists here, but the villagers are now ashamed to show their waterfall to the guests.
“Our beautiful Shaqi waterfall, which used to be famous in the Soviet period, doesn’t exist now, it has got dry because of SHPP operation,” said Shaqi rural municipality employee and added the SHPP doesn’t have impact on the social situation in the village and irrigation, but it has impact on tourism.
“We had guests who admired the waterfall, but now you are ashamed to show anything…dried out. They (the SHPP) must let out at least 30% of water in order not to destroy the nature, but they got everything dry…no fish left, nothing,” the villager complained and added ironically, “If a crossword says a dry waterfall in Syunik Region, we fill in Shaqi.”
In reply to the question when the residents can see a waterfall full of water, one of the villagers said, “When we have high-level guests, we can see the waterfall, in other cases – no.”
We asked whether the villagers ever posed a complaint-demand to the SHPP administration, in reply the rural municipality employee said, “We did it many times, both the villagers or people the villages host, but not changes: the SHPP is operating and making money every second.”
The material has been prepared in the frames of “Support to the Reforms of SHPPs through a Dialogue between the Public and The Ministry of Nature Protection of the RA for the Purpose of River Ecosystem Use” project.
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September 07, 2015 at 14:24