EcoLur
Meghradzor Community in Kotayq Region needs irrigation water: “Meghradzor Community receives irrigation water mainly from the pipeline of the cement plant, which runs through the administrative area of Meghradzor community. There used to be agreements to provide irrigation water to the population. Till the last year the process was normal, but last year when it was made paid, the so-called regime was violated. So far the villagers have used the water free of charge, but as soon as it became paid, the water supply was disturbed,” said Karlen Hovhannisyan, Meghradzor Community Head and added that the rural municipality and the cement plant are taking joint efforts trying to provide irrigation water to the population.
Karlen Hovhannisyan mentioned that a small part of the village – around 10%, uses the water of the Tezh River for irrigation purposes. Two SHPPs have constructed on the Tezh River and its tributary – Arjadzor tributary, which cause problems for irrigation community land areas, especially in the summer.
“The SHPPs collect water in the dam they constructed mainly in the summer, afterward the deprive the whole river of the water. They let out water for certain time period to produce electricity, so villagers don’t have any opportunity to water their land areas on time. When they collect water, problems with irrigation water arise,” said Meghradzor Community Head and added that they mainly experience problems in July and August months.
We asked the Meghradzor Community Head whether the SHPPs implement any social programs for the community.
“No, they just pay annual land use fee. They used to promise gold hills, but nothing happened after the operation,” Karlen Hovhannisyan mentioned.
In reply to the question whether they would like to get support from the SHPPs, one of Meghradzor community residents said, “We would like the electricity to be free of charge for the village, If they use the water and established a SHPP, let them give free power to the villagers. That’s it.”
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.
September 03, 2015 at 14:39