Armenian environmentalists have warned that a boom in fish farming industry in the Ararat valley might dry up the main sources of water in local communities.
The valley, which stretches for 90 km along the Armenian-Turkish border in the southwest, is the most important agricultural region of Armenia.
Although his Artesian Basin provides more than 60 percent of the groundwater of the country, the region risks desertification.
Experts say that fish farming in the 6,600 square kilometers of the valley has exacerbated the decline in groundwater levels, with more than 30 municipalities in the valley facing water shortages.
Aram, a farmer who asked to remain anonymous, lives in the village of Mrgavet in the Ararat region. It indicates that the level of underground water on his plot of land fell by about 40 cm per year. It must deepen its regular good for there to be enough water to irrigate land.
This year, the Aram had dug the well of half a meter.
“The fact that we have no water comes from the lack of fish farmers,” said Aram, explaining that previously it was enough to dig a meter for water to appear.
“Now we can not only reach to a depth of 14 meters,” he has said, meaning that residents were forced to use electric pumps.
There are not so long, he continued, groundwater was only 10 cm below the surface of the earth. Villagers had to ask employees of the irrigation department to cut the water supply to prevent their gardens are submerged.
“Water flooded basements and touched all the places of storage of potatoes. At the time, we dreamed that the water decreases. Now we dream of having water, “continued Aram.
Many of her neighbors have stopped growing vegetables. We could not afford to deepen the well, while another decided to let his only source of water dry up.
“People are doomed to famine, if there is no water. But who thinks of us, “said Aram. “Around us are fish farms that have all pumped groundwater.”
DEPLETED RESOURCES
Fish farming in the Ararat valley began in the Soviet era, but on a much smaller scale.
“At this time, the fish farming industry was well balanced with the demand of the local market and was safe for the environment, because it was mainly artesian wells and did not exceed the potential of the basement of auto-recovery water resources, “said the United States Agency for International development (USAID) in an assessment published earlier this year.
Then, in the 2000s, a boom in fish farming took place. Between 2000 and 2015, more than 230 fish farms were built with a total area of approximately 3530 hectares pond.
Many were built near each other, with little regard to the environmental impact or the application of the medium or long term.
“Artesian well drilling took place without any control or supervision by the respective government agencies,” noted the study of USAID. This resulted in “widespread waste and neglect of strategic reserves of fresh water in violation of the basic principles for the safe use of groundwater resources.”
USAID cited research by the Energy Program and clean water (CEWP) that the annual water consumption by fish farms artesian years the Ararat valley totaled 1.493 million cubic meters . The self-recovery potential of this resource is only 1.226 million cubic meters per year.
All this has led to a decrease in humidity of the natural ground. In the region of Masis, for example, cracks appeared in residential homes because of declining groundwater levels.
The Artesian Basin also supplies drinking water and irrigation in the neighboring cities of Armavir, Echmiadzin, Artashat and Ararat.
Ecologist Ashot Khoyetsyan said the Ararat valley, which is about 850 meters above sea level, is now considered a semi-desert terrain.
In addition, precipitation decreased due to global climate change. According to the Armenian meteorological service, the average annual temperature increased by 1.3 degrees and the humidity was down 10 to 12 percent over the past 20 years.
“This is the formula of desertification,” said Ashot Khoyetsyan, noting that more and more areas were affected.
The main problem in the Ararat valley is that this phenomenon leads to the formation of 30,000 hectares of secondary salt marshes. Armenia is not able to desalinate these areas.
“Soil erosion is growing rapidly in the Ararat valley and covers about 10 percent of the territory. This is a huge number for the Ararat valley, which is also the only food reservoir in the country, “said Ashot Khoyetsyan.
Another problem is the lack of appropriate development strategy for the fish farming sector. This led to a significant oversupply and declining revenues.
Armenia currently produces about 14,000 tonnes of fish per year, of which 20 percent are exported to the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), the ministry of agriculture.
Hovik Aghinyan, chief hydrologist at hydrogeological monitoring center said the shortsighted use of resources has caused a general decline in water levels in all the artesian basin of Ararat.
The Ministry of Nature Protection has closed many illegally dug wells but these were mostly small Khoyetsyan said Ashot.
In 2014 and 2015, the Ministry of Nature Protection has sealed 50 wells in deep water, while 40 were retained and 225 blocked. According to official figures, these measures have helped save 1.32 billion cubic meters of water.
However, the USAID study cited a smaller number of wells that had been sealed – only eight in 2015.
“Although this is a very good initiative, the rate at which illegal or abandoned wells are sealed is not comparable to the scope of the problem,” the report said.
In total, there are about 560 abandoned wells in different parts of the valley, 100 of which have a large capacity, according to the USAID report.
Ashot Khoyetsyan added that after the closure of abandoned wells, groundwater levels have increased in communities around Masis, Sis, Hovtashat, Dashtavan and Zorak.
“It is necessary to change the irrigation system, consider the use of natural resources, but the land use methods remain the same,” he added
Garnik Petrosyan, Deputy Minister of Agriculture, also told the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) that the situation in the Ararat valley was to be managed through effective use of water resources, systems of drip irrigation and the introduction of new technologies.
“We test varieties of wheat, barley and legumes for culture, if necessary,” said Garnik Petrosyan.
In February, USAID announced the launch of the Advanced Science Project and Partnerships for Integrated Resource Development (Aspired), a three-year initiative to reduce the capture rate of groundwater in the Ararat valley.
The focus is on improving technical capacity and increasing access to water conservation technologies and energy efficiency.
Aspired probe the wells and springs in the Artesian Basin of Ararat and install an automated control system to monitor groundwater in the ten selected fisheries.
German development bank KfW has also expressed interest in providing assistance to the Ararat valley. On September 20 Aramayis Grigoryan, Minister of Nature Protection, met a delegation of the bank.
“We do not know to what extent our German partners will agree to fund this program, but some support will be provided, which can already be said with confidence,” said Grigoryan Aramayis reporters.
Gohar Stepanyan is a reporter for Newspress.am.
Institute for War & Peace Reporting