MANY DROPS MAKE A SHOWER

In the age of globalization, the problem of rational use of natural resources and control over their disposal has become topical. This issue also affects Azerbaijan, because water influences all aspects of quality life, especially if there is a shortage of clean fresh water. In order to promote the conservation and rational use of water, World Water Day is observed annually. What is the potential of these resources in Azerbaijan and what is being done to make economical use of them?

Potential

According to official data, the reserves of drinking water in the territory of Azerbaijan, being more or less limited, are distributed very unevenly. At present, the groundwater reserves total 27 cubic kilometres, and in dry years this figure drops to 20-21 cubic kilometres. As a matter of fact, sources of groundwater reserves are rivers, lakes, reservoirs and glaciers. The main water arteries of the country - Kura and Araz - are contaminated with various chemical elements and organic compounds before they enter the territory of Azerbaijan. In the border areas the concentration of oil products, phenols, copper, bismuth and titanium in water exceeds the permitted limit. In addition, the rivers are also subjected to industrial pollution inside the country.

The flow of ground waters in Azerbaijan varies dramatically depending on the year and the season. To reduce dependence on these changes and to ensure uninterrupted water supplies in the whole country, 140 reservoirs have been created. The largest of them is Mingacevir, Samkir, Araz and Sarsang. The total area of reservoirs is 87,000 hectares, while the volume of water is 22 cubic kilometres.

Annual consumer groundwater reserves in Azerbaijan are close to 9bn cubic metres. Their main reserves are concentrated in the territory of the Samur-Davaci, Saki-Zaqatala, Ganca-Qazax, Mil-Karabakh and Naxcivan foothill lowlands.

External factors

According to the director of the Centre for Ecological Forecasting and chairman of the Public Council under the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Azerbaijan, Telman Zeynalov, the situation with water resources as a whole cannot and should not be called critical. However, certain problems still exist.

As we know from the school geography course, we have the ability to reuse water due to the water cycle. However, a major influence on this process is exerted by the population growth and the deterioration of the environmental situation in the world in general and in the country in particular. The unfavourable environment and technological factors also affect the quality of water.

According to the environmentalist, the Ministry of Ecology has already installed 171 cleansing modules in the regions of Azerbaijan, which provide drinking water to the population (4.3 litres a day per person). Technical water is provided for washing, bathing and other purposes (from irrigation ditches, sources, rivers, etc.). With regard to standards of purification, according to the environmentalist, they were much tougher in the former Soviet Union than even in Western countries, and Azerbaijan continues to adhere to these standards.

However, as residents of many areas of Baku, especially peripheral ones can observe, the quality of water they are forced to consume is far from ideal despite such harsh standards. Private companies that check the level of hardness and other indicators note that the concentration of salts and heavy metals in tap water is tens, if not hundreds, of times higher than the permissible level. Not everyone can afford to install high-quality household cleaning filters. Thus, in evaluating the water potential of the country one cannot ignore the issue of water quality, which naturally affects the level of use.

However, LLC Azersu maintains that the water supplied to water pipelines is clean, because Azerbaijan still uses old Soviet standards of cleaning, which are much tougher than the standards of the World Health Organization. In particular, the deputy director of the Water Canal Research Institute of JSC Azersu, Adisirin Alakbarov, told R+ that the water supplied to water pipelines in Azerbaijan for domestic purposes conforms to the standards accepted in the country, and if it is sometimes supplied with sediment and characteristic odour of chlorine, it is only temporary and is due to certain repair work. "In general we have clean water," the expert said.

Moreover, Azersu is taking steps to improve the quality of water supplied to the population. In particular, the construction of the Ceyranbatan water treatment and filtration plant, which is based on the latest global technology, is coming to an end. The filtration plant will stop all the harmful microbes and particles in the water, which makes it possible to eliminate unpleasant odours and tastes, as well as to preserve its natural salt composition. And the water that passes through this installation no longer needs chlorination. The launch of this plant will help improve water supplies to a number of villages in the Abseron Peninsula - Turkan, Zira, Qala, Dubandi, Gurgan and Pirallahi.

On the other hand, the lack of instruments of regional monitoring and control leads to a number of violations in the observance of environmental and water protection standards by industrial enterprises. According to Zeynalov, some regions operate plants that do not purify water, but discharge used water after the technological process and unusable water into natural bodies of water - rivers, streams, etc. However, some of such enterprises were instructed, through the allocation of an additional area for them, to build a wastewater treatment plant, but in order to control all violations, clear and transparent work by a monitoring group is required. By the way, in Soviet times, all enterprises, and many of them were functioning in the city of Baku, were certainly equipped with purifying facilities to reduce harm to the environment.

Talking about the use of water resources, we cannot ignore the use of water in agriculture - in the irrigation of fields. As one of the necessary resources, water in this case acts as a direct participant in the production process, and its efficient use becomes very important.

According to the expert, back in 1938-1940 Azerbaijan had technology for synchronized, drip irrigation of arid regions, but later this technology was lost. In the early 2000s, monographs and scientific works were published on low-intensity and environmentally sound technologies of irrigation in arid regions of the country. The advantage of low-intensity irrigation technology is that with a minimum amount of water consumed, a microclimate forms for more intensive development of plants throughout the irrigated area. Consequently, the yield of different types of crops significantly increases. In addition, it does not require a strict layout of irrigated fields, makes it possible to ration irrigation rates, mechanize and automate the process of water distribution, etc. It should also be noted that the use of new equipment and micro-irrigation technology helps save irrigation water by 2-2.5 times and increase the yield by 30-40 per cent.

Foreign experience

The newest and most advanced achievements in the field of managing water resources today belong to Israel. Located in a desert and semi-desert climate zone, this country understands better than anyone else the value of water as an essential natural resource for life. Equipment and irrigation systems used in this country (Israel is one of the largest exporters of agricultural products) make it possible to achieve the maximum effect with minimum harm to the environment and available water supplies.

The Israeli national water pipeline system, the extensive network of water supplies and water distribution that delivers water literally to each field, and tanks for collecting rainwater are the most important technological assets of the arid country. It was required to develop a policy of water supplies so as to fully provide the population with the necessary amount of water and ensure food security in the country. To this end, work is under way in several directions: efficient use of water in agriculture with the use of the latest technology; use of treated wastewater for irrigation, particularly industrial crops; use of groundwater, and perhaps the most massive issue - desalination of seawater, for which the first desalination plant has been launched. Israel can rightly be proud of the fact that over the past 30 years, agricultural production has increased more than five-fold, while water consumption has remained at the same level. More than 80 per cent of the equipment produced for irrigation is exported for farmers from other countries, including developed ones. The unique knowledge and experience of Israeli experts in the field of irrigation is being used abroad in many projects for creating irrigated agriculture as a sector in developing countries, for the construction of new and reconstruction of existing irrigation systems.