Armenia: Small hydropower plants on Geghahovit river caused water quality deterioration threatening agriculture in the region, say local residents
Riepilogo
Date Reported: 20 Mag 2021
Location: Armenia
Companies
El-Kas LLC - UnknownProjects
Gegharot SHPP - UnknownAffected
Total individuals affected: Number unknown
Community: ( Number unknown - Location unknown - Sector unknown , Gender not reported ) , Ecosystem: ( Number unknown - Location unknown - Sector unknown , Gender not reported )Issues
Protests , Land Rights , Access to Water , Water pollution , Clean, Healthy & Sustainable Environment , Impacts on Livelihoods , Personal HealthResponse
Response sought: No
Source type: News outlet
Riepilogo
Date Reported: 20 Mag 2021
Location: Armenia
Companies
Vakuflo LLC - UnknownProjects
Aragats-1 SHPP - UnknownAffected
Total individuals affected: Number unknown
Community: ( Number unknown - Location unknown - Sector unknown , Gender not reported ) , Ecosystem: ( Number unknown - Location unknown - Sector unknown , Gender not reported )Issues
Protests , Land Rights , Access to Water , Water pollution , Clean, Healthy & Sustainable Environment , Impacts on Livelihoods , Personal HealthResponse
Response sought: No
Source type: News outlet
"Because of Gegharot and Aragats-1 SHPPs, our lands are deserted, the water quality has changed," Residents of Aragatsotn region are demonstrating, 20 May 2021
[Summary translation provided by the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre]
Residents of several villages of Aragatsotn region were protesting outside the government building today. The cultivated lands of the residents had been deserted for 11 years due to the operation of two small hydropower plants on Gegahovit River - Gegharot and Aragats-1. The villages...located in the Gegharot river valley, suffer from the operation of these hydropower plants...According to the residents, all the vegetation dried up and the crop got spoiled...For years the residents raised their voices. Representatives of Ministry of Nature Protection analyzed the water quality and found out the quality was bad, unfit for agriculture...
The Ministry made a decision that the operation of the HPPs should be suspended, but later the administrative court suspended the minister's decision.