March 23, 2012 - 15:27 AMT
Official says Armenia faces water management problem

Surface water formation in Armenia is conducted in March-May, as a result of which 1 billion cubic meters of water is collected from the republic’s 70 reservoirs, deputy head of the Water Resource Management Agency of RA Ministry of Nature Protection said.

As Volodya Narimanyan told a press conference on March 23, 60% of water resources simply flow away for this period.

“Armenia doesn’t face water resources deficit. It currently faces the problem of their effective management, instead,” he said.

In this context he noted that leading international institutions like the World Bank, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and relevant institutions of the EU have recorded notable progress regarding reforming Armenia’s water management systems over the last 10 years. Mr. Narimanyan further underlined the plan to build 70-80 more reservoirs for up to 2 bln. cubic meters of water in coming 20-30 years.