ArmInfo.There are corruption manifestations in the irrigation system of Armenia, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said at a government meeting on February 15. According to him, the system has accumulated a huge debt of 10.5 billion drams, and it is important to establish the reason for the accumulation of this debt. "Does this mean that the peasants do not pay for water, or some kind of corruption schemes are in place," the Prime Minister asked.
In response, Head of the RA State Control Service David Sanasaryan, referring to the research data, stressed that almost all farmers regularly paid for the irrigation water supplied, but water user companies under the pretext of water loss used funds for other purposes. "On March 15, a full report on the revealed violations will be submitted," David Sanasaryan promised.
In turn, Nikol Pashinyan called to pay attention to the problem of the leaders of the security forces. "What is happening in the system? We need to understand how this debt was formed and make the necessary decisions," the Prime Minister said, adding that the system should be "extremely organized" for the new season. RA Minister of Emergency Situations Feliks Tsolakyan said that by now almost all the water basins of the country are completely filled, with the exception of Sevan Lake, where the water shortage is about 2 cm of the lake's mirror.
Meanwhile, RA Minister of Nature Protection Erik Grigoryan stressed that as of today, 30% of small hydropower plants (only about 165 - ed.) Already have water meters installed at 30%. All water basins will have systems connected to the head server. Thus, the minister continued, it will be possible to track water releases and their use in real time. He added that this year the height of snow cover in the whole country was higher than last year, and there are all the prerequisites for the successful implementation of the irrigation season. At the same time, Eric Grigoryan drew attention to an increase in the average temperature in Armenia by an average of 1-2 degrees, which will lead to an increase in water consumption. He recalled that the irrigation of 1 ha of land needed 12 thousand cubic meters of water. However, with climate change, these volumes may be insufficient. For this reason, the minister continued, the introduction of drip irrigation systems, the construction of new reservoirs, and an increase in efficiency are extremely important.