BECAUSE YOU CAN'T DO WITHOUT CLEAN WATER

World Water Day was marked on 22 March, one of the most important dates on the international ecological calendar. The problem of clean drinking water is one of the most serious facing the world community. Use of water increased seven-fold in the 20th century. The planet's supplies of fresh water are being used up with catastrophic consequences. According to the World Meteorological Association's figures, the entire population of the planet could be affected by a lack of drinking water by 2020. Although the Earth potentially has sufficient water resources, they are distributed unevenly. As a result, the struggle for water resources could be the cause of armed conflict in the 21st century.

A significant amount of the world's water is not suitable for human use, because more than 97 per cent is salt water. Only 2.5 per cent is fresh water, but much of it is inaccessible as it is in very deep wells or frozen in glaciers. The proportion of accessible fresh water is 0.26 per cent of the planet's water resources.

It is terrible to use the water that flows intermittently from our taps for drinking and cooking because of the possible consequences. Although the payments for water have gone up several times recently, this has had no affect whatsoever on its quality. This prompts justified criticism from citizens. At the same time water reservoirs, which are the main sources of domestic and drinking water, continue to be polluted and the water and sewage networks remain in a highly dilapidated state. The level of pollution of surface water sources with untreated waste water is quite high and residues of pesticides, dangerous for human health, often exceed accepted limits. Boiling, leaving water to stand with silver or silicon in it, filtration, freezing and using electrical and magnetic fields remove only one or two characteristics of the water.

Baku is supplied with surface water (the Samur and Kura rivers) and underground water (Shollar). Major cities should have several independent sources of water supply, according to the guidelines. That is why a presidential decree envisages a new water pipeline (300-km-long, with a pipeline diameter of two metres and a throughput of five cubic metres per second). The Azersu joint-stock company is managing this project.

How can water be improved?

President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree in 2003 confirming a national programme "On ecologically sustainable social and economic development", under which by 2010 every resident of Azerbaijan should have access to clean, good quality water. On the instructions of the government the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources is already working on a programme "To increase reserves of drinking water and improve their quality". The programme plans to install new water-cleaning filters in 50 villages, home to around 149,000 citizens. As well as installing filters the programme plans to create a new ecological procedure for local industry. The government is discussing ways to utilize domestic and industrial waste water. Repeat industrial processing of these waters may be carried out or canals laid to ensure the water flows into different water sources, i.e. the sea or rivers.

The ministry is planning to install five to 10 purifying stations which would allow waste water to be cleaned on the spot. 

Azerbaijan has joined 17 different international conventions on protecting the environment, including the Convention on the Protection and Use of Trans-Boundary Watercourses and International Lakes. We urge our neighbours to join these conventions. But Georgia and Armenian are not participants and this makes us think that these neighbours are polluting Azerbaijan's sources of drinking water, the Kura and Araz. These rivers constitute approximately 80 per cent of the country's drinking water, which is estimated to be 34-35 cubic kilometres.

It is extremely difficult for Azerbaijan to obtain information about the level of pollution of the Kura River basin outside our country because of Armenia's occupation of 20 per cent of Azerbaijan's territory. Water resources are being used in barbaric fashion and are being actively polluted, because of the lack of the necessary ecological monitoring.

State of trans-boundary rivers

Because of the lack of purification facilities all polluted waste waters possible (from mines, ore-dressing plants, the electronics industry) are mainly sent to the Kura River (350 million cubic metres per year). Since the Kura supplies around 80 per cent of the country's drinking water, any deterioration in the river's water quality could pose a threat to the nation's health.

Analytical laboratories were set up in Qazax (the Kura and its tributaries) and Beylaqan (the Araz) in 2005 to study the pollution level of the trans-boundary rivers, the Kura and Araz. They carry out daily physical and chemical analyses using modern equipment. The results of the analyses are sent to Azersu and also to the authorities of interested districts. Steps are now being taken to regularly post and update these figures on the ministry's web site.

The Sarsang reservoir in the occupied territories is of particular concern. The country's highest dam (726 metres) with a volume of 565 million cubic metres poses a real threat to 400,000 people who live lower down on the River Terter.

Sometimes in summer the Armenians cut off water to Azerbaijani villages, which leads to a major water shortage. In winter the villages, their infrastructure and pipes are flooded as a result of water being let out of the reservoir.

Solving problems

Steps are being taken to improve the state of trans-boundary water sources at the regional, ecology ministry level, in line with international norms. In successfully achieving these objectives much significance is given to developing links with international organizations and donor countries and to concluding interstate agreements on protecting the environment.

Under the aegis of international institutions a number of regional projects are under way to protect trans-boundary watercourses. The projects' main aim is to prevent, monitor and stop negative trans-boundary influence on the quality of water in the River Kura. Equipment worth 116,689 euros was supplied in 2006 to laboratories monitoring water pollution within the framework of a TACIS project "Joint river management programme". 

The possibility of creating an International Commission for River Protection is being assessed in a project "Devising and introducing hazard prevention measures in the Kura River basin", financed by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety. The introduction of early warning and accident prevention centres in the Kura basin is being considered.

At the same time USAID and UNDP/EEF projects on managing water resources in the South Caucasus are being worked on and the Ecology Ministry is developing cooperation with the relevant Georgian bodies on pollution of the Kura.

Another problem is posed by Azerbaijan's oil sector, which is playing an extremely important role in the development of the national economy but at the same time is an active source of pollution of the environment. The foundations of the industry were laid in the 1840s. Since then 1.5 billion tonnes of oil have been extracted in Azerbaijan. However, sometimes uneconomic methods of extraction were used, which helped to pollute the Abseron peninsula. Oil extraction led to the pollution of 800 water reservoirs, 41 of which are natural, as well as 15,000 hectares of land. It is true that work done as part of the oil contracts to ensure the utilization of associate gas extracted alongside oil has significantly reduced the volume of industrial waste released into the atmosphere. Every year there used to be 2.2-2.3 million tonnes of this waste, while now the figure is down to 800,000 tonnes. However, several companies working in the country are avoiding paying compensation for the damage they have done to Azerbaijan's ecosystem.