Pashinyan says serious water crisis in Armenia

YEREVAN, August 3. /ARKA/. Many settlements across Armenia have been experiencing the water scarcity problem for decades, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan told a government meeting today.

"We must state that the time has come for a change in our attitude towards water resources at all levels. We must state that the water crisis is aggravated by the worn-out or lack of infrastructures and our attitude towards water," Pashinyan said.

He noted that no one realizes how serious the water problem is in Armenia, and it has already reached gigantic proportions.

In particular, the prime minister recalled a recent visit to the village of Nerkin Getashen in Gegharkunik province, saying that this and neighboring villages have problems with drinking and irrigation water, but on the way to the village he saw several pipes from which clean water was just flowing.

"Water resources in the country are not managed and this is a big problem. This is a serious problem that we must solve," he said.

In this context, Pashinyan mentioned a project designed to shift fisheries to a closed cycle of water use. He said the government does not intend to revise the deadline for this requirements to come into force because entrepreneurs have been given a year and a half to adjust to the new requirements. -0-