Azernews.Az

By Rashid Shirinov

Pollution of the transboundary rivers remains high in Azerbaijan due to fault of the neighboring countries where the rivers originate.

The country's environmental protection agencies periodically check the pollution level of the transboundary rivers, and the results often exceed the permissible level due to the fault of the neighboring countries where the rivers origin from.

Recently, the National Monitoring Department on Environment under the Azerbaijani Ecology and Natural Resources Ministry conducted a monitoring in order to examine the pollution level of Kura and Araz rivers and their tributaries.

The two rivers are regarded as transboundary, because they are entering the Azerbaijani territory from the west – Armenia and Georgia.

The monitoring revealed that the amount of biogenic substances in Kura and its tributaries is several times above the norm. The reason for this is the discharge of untreated domestic wastes and sewage from industrial facilities into water facilities in the territory of Armenia and Georgia.

For instance, the amount of phenol pollutants in water of the Agstafachay river was 4.6 times higher than the permissible concentration. The river, which is the right tributary of Kura, flows in Azerbaijan from the territory of Armenia.

Named as “Mother Kura” in Azerbaijan, the river which is replenished by groundwater, snow, and rain, is used for irrigation purposes. The river also gives the means of producing energy to the Mingachevir, Varvara, Shamkir and Yenikend hydro power stations, while it is the only river in the country suitable for shipping.

Moreover, the results of the monitoring showed that the Araz river is also excessively polluted with phenols – in different parts of the river their amount exceeds the permissible concentration twice.

Waste thrown into the Araz river is extremely harmful. The heavy metals and other hazardous, toxic, and radioactive wastes brought by the Okhchuchay river, which takes its beginning from the Armenian territory, pollute the Araz river. Following Araz’s flowing into the Kura river, these hazardous materials in turn pollute Kura, which is the main source of drinkable water for majority of Azerbaijani regions.

The Kura and Araz rivers are significant for Azerbaijan, which suffers water shortages throughout the year, when compared with the two another Southern Caucasus countries.

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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov

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