Kura River Running Into Azerbaijan Heavily Polluted By Nearby Nations - Committee Chairman
Date
2/28/2024 3:08:42 AM
(MENAFN- Trend News Agency) BAKU, Azerbaijan, February 28. The majority of
water flowing into Azerbaijan through the Kura river is polluted by
neighboring countries, Chairman of the Azerbaijani Parliament
Committee on Natural Resources, Energy, and Ecology Sadig Gurbanov
said during the public hearings on the topic Water management in
the country: problems and new challenges, Trend reports.
"Georgia accounts for 62 percent of the South Caucasus' total
water resources, Armenia for 28 percent, and Azerbaijan for 10
percent. The average annual surface water reserves are 32.3 billion
cubic meters. The Kura river is the primary source of drinking
water for the people of Azerbaijan," the Committee Chairman
noted.
He also said that most of the water flowing to Azerbaijan
through the Kura river is formed on the territory of Georgia and
Armenia.
"Unfortunately, neighboring countries continue to pollute these
seas. Armenia and Georgia have yet to join the International
Convention on Environmental Protection. Azerbaijan is a signatory
to 17 international conventions on this subject, including the
Convention on the Protection of Transboundary Waters. The Araz
river contributes a small portion of our freshwater supplies, but
it is also contaminated by Iran and Armenia. The Samur river, which
flows from the north from the territory of Dagestan to Russia, does
not fulfill the requirements," Gurbanov emphasized.
The Committee Chairman noted that according to forecasts, by
2040, river water availability is likely to decrease by 15–25
percent on average in the territory of Azerbaijan.
"By 2070, this figure is expected to be 20–25 percent. Another
factor causing water scarcity in our country is the growing water
demand. Thus, while in agriculture, one million ha of land area was
planted in 2010, in 2020, this figure will reach 1.7 million ha. In
other words, the area of land sown for irrigation has generally
increased by more than 70 percent. One more factor is associated
with water loss," he added.
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