Neighboring countries continue to pollute Kura River

The largest river in Transcaucasia – the Kura – is of great importance for the economy of Azerbaijan. The river originates in Turkey to go through Georgia and Azerbaijan into the Caspian Sea.

Called “Mother Kura” in Azerbaijan, the river, replenished by groundwater, snow, and rain, is used for irrigation purposes. The Kura River also gives the means of producing energy to the Mingachevir, Varvara, Shamkir and Yenikend hydro power stations. Moreover, it is the only river in the country suitable for shipping.

The Kura River is significant for the country, which suffers water shortages throughout the year, when compared with the two another Southern Caucasus countries. The pollution of its waters is a disaster for Azerbaijan.

Today, the amount of biogenic substances in the river and its tributaries exceeds the established norm by several times, as a result of the discharge of untreated water and industrial waste into the river from the territory of Georgia and Armenia.

Monitoring conducted by the Azerbaijan Ecology and Natural Resources Ministry studied the pollution of the Kura and Araz trans-boundary river, which pass through Armenia, and their tributaries, the ministry reported on August 4.

The report shows that waters of the Kura River are contaminated with phenol. In the Shikhli 2 area, the content of phenol exceeded permissible levels by 4.9 times, in Agstafachay by 4.4 times, and in the Agstafachay reservoir by 3 times.

The phenol content in the waters of the Araz River in Horadiz exceeds the permitted limit by 2.9 times, in Shahsevene-1 by 2.2 times and in Bahramtepe by 2.5 times.

The content of cooper and oxygen is within the normal limits for these rivers.

Earlier, the ministry also reported on the water levels of the rivers of the country.

A drop in water levels has been observed in the downstream of Kura River. Currently, the water level stands at 342cm in Surra settlement, 185cm in Shirvan, 117cm in Salyan, 171cm in Banka, while it is 57cm in Novruzlu settlement.

The river content fluctuates between 40-100 percent of decade norm in Quba-Khachmaz region of the Major Caucasus rivers, 30-80 percent in Minor Caucasus rivers, 65-95 percent in Lankaran-Astara region rivers.