Pollution levels in Azerbaijan's transboundary rivers coming from Georgia and Armenia exceed the norm

At points where the Kura River is subject to transboundary pollution from the territory of Georgia and Armenia, the permissible limits for phenol and copper compounds, which are specific pollutants in the water, are being significantly exceeded. This is shown by the results of the regular monitoring of pollution levels in the Kura and Araz carried out in the third ten-day period of February by the National Environmental Monitoring Department of the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources.

According to the monitoring results, at the Shikhly-2 point, phenols and copper compounds, among the main water pollutants, exceed the permissible limit by two times; at the Aghstafachay point, phenols exceed the permissible limit by three times, and copper compounds by two times.

Because household, livestock and industrial waste from the territory of Armenia and Georgia is discharged without prior filtration, a slight excess of biogenic substances was observed in the Kura and Araz.

According to the monitoring results, in the Araz River, which is transboundary with Armenia, the permissible limits for copper and phenols are significantly exceeded. Phenols, the main water pollutants, exceeded the permissible limit at points on the Araz River as follows: at Horadiz by three times, at Shahsevan I by two times, while at the Bahramtapa point they were within the norm. Copper pollution at Horadiz exceeded the permissible limit by four times, and at Bahramtapa and Shahsevan I by three times.To address the problems of transboundary water basins at the regional level within the framework of international norms, Azerbaijan ratified the Helsinki Convention "On the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes". The problem is made worse by the fact that Armenia and Georgia have not joined this convention.

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