The Azerbaijan State Water Resources Agency and bp today signed a cooperation agreement to work together to define, select and implement potential water projects to help improve the water situation in the communities.
It is expected that the collaboration will initially focus on three potential projects, bp told AZERTAC.
The first project aims to establish a new water supply system in the Goychay district. The system will be designed to collect, settle and clean floodwater making it suitable for land irrigation. It is intended that the system will have a capacity of cleaning over 500,000 cubic metres of water annually enough to irrigate up to 100 hectares of land.
The second project will aim to restore two underground water-supply sources in the Tovuz district. After restoration the two sources will be able to provide up to 2.5 million cubic metres of fresh water annually enough to meet household consumption and land irrigation needs of about 15,000 community members.
The third project aims to set up 25
water systems – for drinking, irrigation and sanitation – in the Kurdamir, Ujar, Agdash, Yevlakh, Goranboy and Samukh districts. The project will cover about 20 rural communities with a total population of approximately 25,000 people.
During the signing event, Asad Shirinov, Advisor to the Chairman of the State Water Resources Agency, said: “One of the main targets of the ‘green policy’ is to establish sustainable water reserves and ensure efficient use of water resources. In accordance with President Ilham Aliyev’s instructions, wide-scale projects are being implemented to that end.
“Azerbaijan is recognized internationally as a reliable and responsible partner in tackling the consequences of climate change. The measures taken in our country towards restoration of the ecosystem, improvement of the environment, and ensuring efficient use of water resources are indicative of Azerbaijan’s steps towards a green future.”
Bakhtiyar Aslanbayli, bp’s vice president for the Caspian region, said: ‘We are pleased to
join our efforts with those of the State Water Resources Agency to help communities in rural areas as they face a shortage of fresh water. We will specifically focus on the areas where there’s either lack of enough fresh water or lack of access to safe water supplies. We hope our collaboration and joint projects will help meet the water needs of thousands of people for domestic use, for health and sanitation as well as for agricultural consumption.’
The projects are planned for two years with a total cost of over $2.6 million.
Source: Azerbaijan State News Agency