Details Revealed on Water Source Contamination in Vayots Dzor Province

On November 10, reports were made regarding the contamination of a water source in Vayots Dzor Province, leading the Armenian Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources Oversight to initiate administrative proceedings.

As part of the administrative investigation, the following actions were conducted:

• Field inspection using unmanned aerial vehicles,
• Water sampling from the contaminated water source and adjacent water sources and streams for laboratory analysis,
• Soil sampling.

It was determined that between November 1 and 8 of this year, the company “STROYMONTAZh” LLC carried out earthworks for the construction of an underground trench at a distance of 20 meters from the water source for the installation of electrical transmission lines. During this process, the flow of the water source was damaged, and a clay-sand mixture was used during the backfilling of the trench, resulting in the contamination of the water flowing from the water source.

Water samples taken from adjacent sources and streams did not reveal any contamination. The company’s director is subjected to administrative liability for violating the rules of water resource conservation, according to the first part of Article 61 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Republic of Armenia.