Chapter 2. State of the Caucasus Environment and Policy Measures: a retrospective from 1972 to 2002

2.4 Fresh Waters

Water quality is one of the major environmental concerns in the Caucasus. During the Soviet era, large volumes of effluents were discharged into surface water bodies from municipal, industrial and agriculture sources, causing pollution of both surface and ground waters. The largest sources of point source pollution were municipal waste-waters, which polluted rivers downstream of large cities with organic matter, suspended solids, surfactants, etc. Industrial waste-water discharges also were high, polluting surface waters with heavy metals, oil products, phenols and other hazardous substances. In Georgia, for example, large industrial facilities producing manganese, ammonia, machinery, etc. together with arsenic, copper and gold mining and processing plants, oil refineries and power plants polluted the river bodies of the Black and the Caspian Sea basins with heavy metals, oil products, phenols and other toxic substances. In Armenia and Azerbaijan, different industries also discharged high loads of pollutants into the Kura and Araks Rivers and their tributaries. In the North Caucasus, one of the major concerns was the contamination of the Terek River and its tributaries from non-ferrous industries (Ministry of Environment and Nature Resources Protection, Russian Federation 1996). Heavy metals, oil products and phenols also heavily polluted the Kuban River. For example, in the late 1980s in the Kuban River, ambient concentrations of oil products and copper were 5-7 times as high as existing surface water quality standards (State Committee of the USSR on Nature Protection, 1989). Agriculture run-off discharged heavy loads of nutrients, suspended solids and pesticides into surface water bodies, causing eutrophication of rivers and lakes and the loss of biota. Lake Sevan, for example, suffered seriously from heavy loads of nutrients from agriculture. About 800,000 tons of 34 types of fertilisers were used in the 1980s in the Lake basin (UN-ECE/MNP of Armenia, 2000). Agricultural run-off from nearby arable lands and livestock farms discharged heavy loads of P and N and organic matter into the lake, changing its status from tropic to almost eutrophic. Therefore, its physical-chemical balance was destroyed, leading to eutrophication and the loss of valuable trout populations. In the North Caucasus, the River Kuban was also highly polluted by biogenic substances (Ministry of Environment and Nature Resources Protection, Russian Federation 1996).

Diffused sources of pollution, other than agriculture runoff, drainage waters from legal landfills and illegal dumpsites and open-pit mining operations, etc. as well as urban run-off also posed high threat to surface and ground waters. In Armenia, for example, the Debed River, a tributary of the Kura River was highly polluted with copper and zinc discharged from the Alaverdi mine in Northeast Armenia. In Georgia, waste-waters from copper mining operations heavily polluted the Kazretula River (Kura River basin) with heavy metals. In the North Caucasus, the contamination of Terek-Kuma artesian aquifer with arsenic was and still is a problem (Ministry of Environment and Nature Resources Protection, Russian Federation 1996).

Historically, the coverage rate of the Caucasus region by sewage systems was high, amounting to about 50-60% of the urban population. The majority of the rural populations however, were not covered by sewage services and they at large relied on septic tanks. Water treatment facilities usually received more waste-water than they could treat. In many cases, industrial waste-waters were discharged directly into municipal sewage collectors. In addition, frequently rain water sewers and domestic sewage systems were connected to each other, causing overloading during heavy rainfalls.

Since the break-up of the Soviet Union, contamination of surface waters has decreased. This could have resulted in the temporary improvement of water quality. However, this is off-set by the fact that the majority of waste-water treatment facilities ceased to function or work at very low levels of efficiency, causing the discharge of larger quantities of untreated waste-water directly into water bodies. The problem of industrial accidents and gulp releases is still acute in the region. For example, during 1998 in North Dagestan gulp discharges from industries located in Chechnya caused heavy contamination of the Terek River and other small river bodies with oil products, exceeding the existing water quality standards 200 to 600 times (Ministry of Environment and Nature Resources Protection, Russian Federation, 1998).

Overall, most of rivers of both the Black and Caspian Sea basins are considered polluted. However, the Kura river, being the major waterway in the South Caucasus region, has a high degree of international importance, in terms of both quantity and quality of water, since its basin covers five countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey and Iran and the rivers and their tributaries there are abstracted for essential uses. Whereas they are less crucial, at a national level, to Iran and Turkey, they are nevertheless important to the economy and communities living in the riparian corridors.

Kura-Araks River Basin, including its two main rivers, the Kura and the Araks and their tributaries, covers three countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of Turkey and Iran. The total area of the basin is more than 200,000 square kilometres, with about 188,000 km sq. of catchment area for the Kura river basin and 102,000 km sq. of catchment area for the Araks river basin. The Kura River originates in Northeast Turkey, passes through Georgia and flows into the Caspian Sea in Azerbaijan. Some of its tributaries flow from Armenia to Georgia and Azerbaijan. The Araks River originates in eastern Turkey and flows along the border of Turkey, Armenia, Iran and Azerbaijan. One branch of the Araks flows directly into the Caspian Sea. The total length of the Kura River is about 1,515 km and its main tributary, the Araks River, is approximately 1,072 km. The basin is rich in biodiversity, unique riparian forests along the Kura, and many important wetlands. The rivers of the Kura basin are used for agriculture, domestic, industrial, and hydropower generation and recreation purposes. Whereas Armenia and Georgia have abundant underground water reserves, which are used as a major source of drinking water, Azerbaijan is almost entirely reliant on the Kura River for all types of water uses. The problems existing in the basin are related to both quantity and quality of water. Water shortage is acute for Georgia and Azerbaijan, since rainfall disappears from west to east of the basin. The average annual precipitation in Central Georgia, where the Kura enters Georgia from Turkey, is 500 mm but is 200 mm in Azerbaijan, where the river flows into the Caspian Sea. Similarly, evaporation rates soar from west to east. Drought periods in the Kura Basin are very common. This has seriously affected the economies of Georgia and Azerbaijan. Overall, despite the efforts to manage river flow the region faces both floods and shortages. Water quality is deteriorated by raw municipal and industrial waste-waters and return flow from agriculture, imposing health, ecological and aesthetic threats. Additionally, improperly designed solid waste landfills and illegal dumpsites, drainage waters from open pit mines and urban run-off degrade the water quality. Municipal sewage contributes the highest share in pollution. The Kura River downstream of such large cities like Tbilisi and Rustavi is heavily polluted with organic matter and other pollutants. Thus, when the river crosses the border of Azerbaijan it is already heavily polluted. For example, in 1992-94, average annual concentrations of phenols and oil products exceeded existing water quality standards about 13-14 and 2.5-3 times respectively in the vicinity of village Shikhly, Azerbaijan near the border with Georgia. At present, most waste-water is left untreated. Existing treatment facilities are out of date and work with low efficiency. Mostly, only mechanical treatment is conducted. Recently, experts from Sandia Laboratory made cost estimations for raw sewage discharges downstream of Tbilisi. Modelling results have showed that potential costs for discharging municipal sewage in Tbilisi with current discharge rates exceed US$ 100,000 at Rustavi and further fall below US$ 300 downstream the river due to self-purification capacity of the river. This means that Rustavi population would gain the most if the waste-water were properly treated. Sources: Phase I Report, Draft, USAID/DAI, 2000; Sandia Report, 2001; Concept Paper UNDP, 2001; UNEP/GRID-Arendal, 1995

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