Azerbaijan beats the alarm related to the pollution of transboundary Okhchuchay river

Selim Balayev

By polluting Okhchuchay river, Armenia damages the ecosphere of not only the South Caucasus, but also the Caspian Sea

About 70 percent of the surface water resources of Azerbaijan exist thanks to transboundary water flows formed in neighbouring countries. Being transboundary river, Okhchuchay is a river that is constantly exposed to severe pollution on the territory of Armenia. We can even say that it plays the role of industrial wastes collector in Armenia. Thus, the throwing of heavy metals into Okhchuchay by Gajaran copper and molybdenum plant and Gafan ore processing plant, located in the southern region of neighbouring country, that exceed standard limits by several times, not only destroys the river fauna and ecosystem, but is also very dangerous for the human health. In this view Azerbaijan beats the alarm related to the pollution of transboundary Okhchuchay river.

Okhchuchay river forms left tributary of Araz river, which is the second largest river in the South Caucasus. The river head of 83 km long Okhchuchay river is located in Gapijig mountain (3285 m) of Zangazur range. Major part of the river is located in Sunik region of Armenia (historical region of Azerbaijan called Zangazur). Its lower bed flows through the territory of Zangilan region liberated from Armenian occupation into Araz river. At the same time, being the largest right tributary of Kura river, Araz river is another transboundary river passing through the territory of Armenia and plays crucial role in irrigating arable lands of Azerbaijan. However due to serious changes in the quality of water in the river, its use for household and agricultural needs is able to lead to extremely negative effects.

It should be noted that starting from 1993 it was impossible to conduct the monitoring on Okhchuchay river, because the river was located on the territory of Zangilan region, Azerbaijan, occupied by Armenia. It became possible for the specialists of the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources (MENR) to conduct the monitoring in the river only after 27 years (in 2020), when the territories of Azerbaijan had been liberated from the occupation of Armenian military units. This monitoring revealed terrible facts.

High content of heavy metals, especially copper, molybdenum, manganese, iron, zinc and chromium, were found in the water samples taken from Okhchuchay in January-June 2021. Pursuant to the monitoring reports of MENR, the content of the copper- molybdenum compound in the river was two, of iron — four and nickel — seven times higher than standard limits. The colour of the river periodically changed due to the pollution.

Massive mortality of Small Trout was observed in the river in March 2021.  During visual monitoring conducted in the part of the river passing through Shayifli and Jahangirbayli villages of Zangilan, mass mortality of thousands of Small Trout and Barbus included in “Red Book” of the Republic of Azerbaijan were observed.

In order to attract the attention of international community to the matter related to ecological disaster in the river, Azerbaijan had to appeal to the authoritative laboratories of foreign countries.

The analysis of the water and bottom deposits samples from the river was conducted at the request of MENR by internationally accredited and certified SGS laboratory (Germany). The test results of the water samples revealed high content of heavy metals, especially iron, copper, manganese, molybdenum, zinc, chromium, nickel, etc. in the waters of the river surface. It even revealed that the content of hazardous substances in the deposit samples exceeded standard limits several times, and the river pollution level was found to be critical. In other words, the death of fish was caused by the excess of iron, copper, nickel, molybdenum and other heavy metals in the river water.

Araz river, as well Kura river are widely used in the irrigation of agricultural lands in Azerbaijan. At the same time, the water of Kura river is used for providing with drinking water not only the surrounding regions, but also many territories of Baku city, the capital of Azerbaijan. This is extremely dangerous for the human health. The use of such the water is able to lead to very harmful complications, such as digestive disorders, destructive processes in the kidneys and bone tissue, cardiovascular, nervous and circulatory systems diseases.
In other words, environmental terror against Azerbaijan pursued by Armenia nowadays remains a source of the danger that is able to seriously affect not only the flora and fauna of the country, but also the gene pool of the country.

On the other hand, Kura river is one of the main rivers feeding the Caspian Sea. Polluting Okhchuchay with heavy metals directly affects the flora of the Caspian Sea.

Therefore, Azerbaijan already beats the alarm related to the fact of environmental terror by Armenia in the region. The Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources addressed a letter to all the international organizations in order to inform about ecological crisis and critical situation in Okhchuchay, including expected environmental risks for the river and its ecosystem in terms of its continuous pollution by Armenia, and in order to prevent the pollution.

The letter emphasizes the fact that this action of Armenia is very dangerous for environment of the country, as well the human health and asks international organizations to attract the attention to this matter.

Intriguingly, Armenia did not join Helsinki Convention on the protection of transboundary watercourses. The fact that Armenia has not joined Helsinki Convention despite that it has declared itself independent country for 30 years, proves that this country shall further continue environmental terror in the region.

Although 4 years have already passed since the Patriotic War it seems that this is one of the main reasons why Armenia still avoids signing the peace treaty with Azerbaijan, despite the efforts and calls of all influential international organizations.