Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan reiterated that water management across the country will be a priority of state policy over the next five years.
Speaking at a Cabinet meeting on April 30, the prime minister noted that there is virtually no settlement in Armenia without water-related problems.
He said that in many communities, due to shortages of irrigation water, residents use drinking water for irrigation, which leads to both water losses and a reduction in supplied volumes.
“In the next five years, water issues will be one of our five priorities. Just as the peace agenda was a priority in the previous period, water-related issues will be an absolute priority in the next five-year period,” Pashinyan said.
According to him, without deep and systemic reforms in the water sector, further economic development could stall.
“Our economy has developed to a point where, without fundamental reforms in the water sector, we will begin to stagnate,” he emphasized.
The prime minister said preparatory work in this direction has been ongoing for about two years, and that it will soon be possible to move to the implementation phase of the programmes.
He also stressed the scale of the issue, noting that it involves a broad transformation of the country’s water infrastructure.
According to Pashinyan, there are uncultivated irrigated lands as well as settlements and districts with limited access to water. He also drew attention to sewage and wastewater management issues, noting that even in Yerevan there are entire districts without sewerage systems.
The prime minister emphasized the importance of wastewater management, stressing that in the future no water should be discharged into nature without treatment.
“Our strategic approach is that no water should be released into nature without treatment after use,” he said.
Pashinyan added that reforms in the sector require not only infrastructure investment but also educational and socio-psychological work aimed at forming a culture of water use.
Pashinyan made similar remarks on April 29 during a visit to a village.
Published by Armenpress, original at
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