Armenian NA discusses issue of drinking- irrigation water supply in  Garni

ArmInfo.  The draft amendments to the law "On Specially Protected Natural Areas" are being discussed at an extraordinary session of the National Assembly of Armenia on April 22.

As the RA Minister of Environment Hakob Simidyan noted in his speech,  the presented document is intended to regulate the issue of providing  the residents of Garni with drinking and irrigation water. The fact  is, the minister continued, that back in 1973, when the Khorovsky  Reserve did not yet have those borders, a main water pipeline was  built to solve the problems of the residents of Garni with water. The  urgency of the adoption of the law is due to the fact that the  irrigation season in the Garni community begins on May 1, and issuing  a water use permit for taking water for irrigation from the Garni  main canal is impossible, since the current law "On Specially  Protected Natural Areas" stipulates that the use of water resources  through water systems and any activity that violates the water regime  is prohibited on the territory of the state reserve. It follows from  the above article that the collection of water from the territory of  the state reserve is prohibited in any case and under any  circumstances.

The Minister noted that the Garni main canal is located on the  territory of the Khosrov Forest State Reserve. It was built to  irrigate the lands of the Garni settlement, since the settlement has  no other source of water for irrigation and the issue of land  irrigation is regulated exclusively from the Garni main canal, the  tributary of which originates from the Azat River, flowing on the  territory of the Khosrov Forest State Reserve, and is transported by  gravity for about 11 kilometers to the water intake of the Garni main  canal with a total length of 25 km, located on the administrative  territory of the Garni settlement of the enlarged Garni community. 

The document will grant permission to use water if there are no other  sources. With the adoption of the law, it will be possible to provide  irrigation water to about 670 hectares of land and about 1,400  subscribers.  Irrigation work in the Khosrov Reserve itself is not  envisaged.