Published since 07.2002
Published on May 16, 2008
FROM SPRINGS TO TAPS: STEPANAKERT MUNICIPALITY PROMISES RESIDENTS WATER SUPPLY
- In early May Stepanakert municipality announced a tender for a reconstruction project of the city’s water supply system and promised the residents to have all the documents ready for modernization of the system within the coming months. Stepanakert’s water supply system, inlayed in the 1930s, has long ceased to meet the needs of the city with a population of 50,000. The majority of residents have running water for 2 hours every other day. In rainy weather water gets turbid, in winter pipes freeze, in summer, when rivers becomes shallow, the city is left without water. Four Armenia-based organizations applied for the tender, with their projects of how to provide Stepanakert with steady water supply. A joint project of Yerevan Engineering University and Armvodproekt Institute won the tender, however it’s not clear yet how the project is going to be funded. It is only known that the project will be carried out by state budget and other means. This year the water situation in Stepanakert has been especially bad. Most of the city hasn’t had water since the New Year- when the weather got unusually cold for Karabakh. Not only pipes, but water mains froze. It was only after the spring thaw that people had water again. “We carry water from nearby springs,” says Narek Grigoryan, a resident of Armenavan region in Stepanakert. “We have two 40-liter canisters ready in our basement. We use them both in summer, when we have running water only once a week, and in winter. This winter we didn’t have tap water for two and a half months. Then the whole street was dug, and never asphalted again. Now we are waiting for summer again. They say it’s going to a hot one.” The presence of water tanks on roofs or in basements, as well as of pumps, has become a symbol of prosperity and comfortable life in Stepanakert. However even those are of little help in a winter as severe as the past one. Frozen tanks broke, and water burst out, flooding upper stories of the houses. During every election or appointment of the capital’s mayor loud promises were made about water. Some 10 years ago the municipality tried to solve the issue by means of creating a circular plumping system and construction of new pump stations. But no tangible results have been felt so far. Vodokanal (water channel) company has drawn the authorities’ attention to the dilapidation of the whole system (some facilities were built in 1930) and spoke about a cardinal solution of the problem. Mayor of Stepanakert Vazgen Mikayelyan stressed that works will be carried out at the filtering stations, reservoirs, as well as the main Gaybalin water supply system. All the pipes will be replaced by new ones. The open sectors of Gaybalin water supply system will be inlayed on a depth that matches defined norms. Recently businessmen from Moscow visited Stepanakert and promised to make major investments in the water supply system. “Hayastan” All-Armenian Fund also promised to assist the project. The city authorities promise that by summer residents will have running water every day for 6 hours, and round-the-clock supply- sometime in the future. The director of Vodokanal Vladimir Arzumanyan says that Stepanakert water comes from rivers Traget, Meghraget, Vararakn. Besides, the city has 3 pump stations supplying water to several districts of Stepanakert. “The city gets from 78-80 liters of water/second, residents have 1,5 hours of running water per day,” he says. Arzumanyan says that the population uses water wastefully: “Of course people have tap water only every other day and have to store water. They install tanks, don’t watch how much water they use, and water goes to sewage, when a part of the population doesn’t get water at all.” “The issues can be solved by installing mass water meters,” he says. “We haven’t managed to complete the installation process yet, as the pipes are old, and accidents happened at the water stations all the while.” Loss of water makes 70-80 percent because the pipes are in a pitiful state. During the war (1991-94) subversive acts were one the means of putting pressure on Stepanakert. All water sources (river heads) were located near Azeri villages. Or, rather those villages were built near the sources. Before Shushi was reclaimed by the Armenians, the Gaybalin filtering station was blown up three times. People were forced to carry water from springs under the hail of shells and bullets. “We would reuse the same water 3 times. First we bathed our children, then made the laundry in that water, then washed the floors with it. Later the situation improved, but I am dreaming of a day, when I don’t have to run home from work at 6 p.m. because it’s a ‘water day’,” says a resident of Stepanakert Anna Avagyan.
- Naira Hayrumyan
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Today in Armenian history- 1812 The Peace Treaty of Bucharest (Romania) is signed between Russia and Turkey. Bessarabia is attached to Russia.
- 1904 Vahan Manooelian is killed in the fighting at Gomer during the Sassoon Rebellion.
- 1926 Inauguration of Yerevan's first hydro-electric power station. Orjonikidze, Aghamali-Oghli, and Eliava give speeches.
- 1980 Commemoration of the 1500 th anniversary of David Anhaght (the Invincible).
- 1981 Death of William Saroyan (writer) in Fresno (USA). He was awarded a Pulitzer Prize in 1940. He was born in 1908.
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