Tuesday, 20 March 2018
2018 Irrigation Season Preparations Discussed in Government
Chaired by Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan, a consultation was held today in the Office of Government to discuss preparations for this year’s irrigation campaign.
With reference to the current situation, Head of State Water Management Committee Arsen Harutyunyan provided information on the amount of water currently available in the reservoirs and steps taken to address the existing problems. The Prime Minister was also informed about the cleaning and refurbishment of other irrigation systems, water-mains, secondary and tertiary canals, pumping stations and deep wells, as well as the signing of contracts, installation of water meters, etc.
The Head of State Water Management Committee advised that in order to mitigate the risks of water shortage, it is envisaged to accelerate the process of solving urgent problems in the procurement process and to finance the mechanical water production, drilling and rehabilitation of deep wells, acquisition and application of mobile pumping stations and so on.
Karen Karapetyan noted that the issue of water supply should be kept in the spotlight of relevant authorities during the irrigation season. “Water is the number one issue for us: many problems will be solved if our farmers manage to support their families,” the Prime Minister said and urged the stakeholders to speed up the process so that water would reach the farmers in time and they could do their work properly.
In the context of raising planning efficiency and implementing the irrigation season in the coming years, the Prime Minister instructed the responsible executives to summarize the water sector programs, identify the priorities and submit them for discussion.
“We will set priorities in summer or fall, finalize the reservoir building program, the reform of WUAs so that we can outline what and why we will be doing each year. This summer, we will discuss the long-term outlook; this fall we will review the 2019 irrigation system, and we shall proceed this way year after year,” the Prime Minister noted.
In conclusion, the Prime Minister called the attention of the heads of concerned departments and Marz governors to the cleaning of water-mains and water pipes, instructing them to cooperate with community leaders in order to ensure that waste disposal is properly organized and the water-mains are free from garbage.
