ArmInfo
The spring may prepare unpleasant surprises for the Nubarashen toxic waste dump.
"The matter is that the burial is in an active landslide zone. Unfortunately, in 2010 after removing the emergency situation the burial was covered with a new layer of land, the soil slip activated and new cracks appeared", said Lilik Simonyan, an expert at Armenian Women for Health and Healthy Environment (AWHHE) NGO, at press conference.
He pointed out that after the rains and snow melt the situation in the burial may be aggravated. Now the environmentalists say that the quality of the work at liquidation of the emergency situation aftermath is unsatisfactory, as there is still a strong unpleasant smell in the area of the burial.
According to Simonyan, it is dangerous to delay the decisions on the buried toxic waste, as there is a populated area, as well as a summer community near the burial. Moreover, despite the specialists' warnings, in 2010 the local residents kept on pasturing and gathering palatable grasses in the adjacent zone. "One thing is clear: the toxic waste should be destroyed", said Simonyan.
Nubarashen toxic waste dump was build in 1976 by the decision of the USSR Council of Ministers. It is located in an active landslide zone not far from the reserve of wild cereals. A total of 600 tons of toxic pesticides were buried directly in the ground, including 512 tons of first and second hazard class. Crucial is that the Armenian Women for Health and Healthy Environment (AWHHE) organization revealed the dump yet 10 years ago.
Earlier on March 4 2010 the experts of the Emergency Situations Ministry revealed that the upper layer of the dump is damaged and toxic chemicals have occurred on the surface. Moreover, the drainage system is damaged as well, which has resulted in emergency situation in the territory of the dump. The Government allocated 31.650 million drams to liquidate the emergency situation at the dump. In 2010 the orld Bank negatively assessed the measures taken to liquidate the
emergency situation at the Nubarashen toxic waste burial. Nairishin Company belonging to Minister of Nature Protection Aram Haroutiunyan, as environmentalists say, took the above measures to liquidate the emergency situation at the burial.
In late 2010 Ecotech Polska and the Emergency Situations Ministry of Armenia signed an agreement to liquidate the hazardous waste of the Nubarashen buirial.
March 11, 2011