‘The volume of water in the world remains unchanged. Fresh water, most of which are the ice blocks in Antarctic, makes up only 2.5% of the entire water basin. Water use grows constantly. Agriculture traditionally accounts for the major portion of the water used in most countries. At the same time, countries with more developed technologies are mobilizing all efforts to reduce the water employed in agriculture through applying more progressive methods. The temperature on Earth has been on the rise, while precipitation is plummeting. This means the climate is becoming hotter and dryer, which poses difficulties for water distribution and use.’

- Is the drinking water problem the product of natural causes or anthropogenic?

‘Urban population is growing more rapidly than in rural areas. Each urbanite needs about 500 litres of water a day. Plus, there are more water-intensive industries now, agricultural areas are expanding, thus boosting volumes of waters used. The anthropogenic and natural factors go hand in hand: precipitation decreases, temperature rises, water use increases. I would say anthropogenic factors are more dominant.’

- What can this situation lead to in the future?

‘Rivers are the primary water resources. At the same time, we see substantial contrast between the location of water resources and of people. There are almost no people living around the major rivers of the world, such as the Amazon, the Congo, or the rivers in Siberia in Russia and northern Canada. The most populated parts of the world are those with a warmer climate, such as China, India, and Central Asia. The chief problem in water supply is caused by this contrast.

What does ‘there will be no water’ mean? Water means life, agriculture, greenery. Don’t people live in Arab countries where water is scarce? So, they have adapted. Our utmost challenge is to adapt and use water sparingly. As agriculture is the main user, shifting to more advanced methods such as drip and sprinkler irrigation is long since been overdue.’

- What is the scale of the problem in the region? What can individual countries do?

‘We have the hardest time with the problem. Georgia neighbours us from the west. The precipitation mostly comes from the Atlantic Ocean. Istanbul and Georgia and both flooded, whereas there is not a single raindrop falling in Azerbaijan. Water supply in Georgia is several times higher than here. Armenia is a mountainous country and most of Türkiye is also covered in mountains, where agriculture is not in serious need of irrigation.

The half of urban population and 30% of total population live in Baku and Absheron alone. Life in the entire Kura-Araz plain is impossible without irrigation. Tigris and Euphrates are the two of the main water sources in Türkiye and both rivers originate in the country. Araz and Kura, which also originate there, cannot be considered large rivers. While there is little chance that Türkiye would use them, they are experiencing tension with both Iraq and Syria over the Euphrates and Tigris. As Türkiye builds reservoirs and power plants over these two rivers, there is no water remaining for other countries. These issues must be agreed upon internationally. As far as I know, our neighbours have not signed the agreement on water transit and transboundary water resources among Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Georgia. We are the only party that has signed which makes it a serious problem for us.’

- How much does building dams on transboundary rivers conform to international conventions and how negatively does the situation affect the water supply in other countries?

‘Disputes between Azerbaijan and Iran can only arise over the waters of Aras. For example, we can build as many dams as we want over the Hakari river. Iran can not object even if the Hakari waters do not reach Aras, but it would mean the end for the Hakari. There is the notion of ‘ecological flow’, which is defined as the minimum value of discharge that needs to be maintained in a river to ensure good conditions for the existing ecosystems. If we build a dam up the river, what happens to 20-30 villages living downstream? The temperature also rises downstream, which increases the demand for water. Contracts aside, the minimum discharge in rivers must be maintained to protect the environment. Hakari or other rivers must end up flowing into the Aras. If we end up damming all rivers and exploiting the underground waters and depleting Aras of its flows, where will this lead us? We must preserve the nature for future generations. Our duty of citizenship and our duties before the nature must be fulfilled in a mutual relationship.’

- What steps must we take to eliminate the drinking water problem globally and regionally?

‘I cannot stress enough the importance of using water resources efficiently. Even the geography textbooks offer us the standard solutions. We must use the groundwaters, build canals and reservoirs. In the 1950s, back in the USSR when there was little water in Aras, we built two canals from the Mingachevir reservoirs. We created the Upper Karabakh canal and reservoirs.

We can transport icebergs. But it also poses certain challenges. Towing an iceberg to Saudi Arabia would waste a quarter of the potential water, but at what cost.

But the first step is always saving the water, which can be done in different ways. There must be water control in place. Agriculture is the main consumer. Some countries, such as Israel, have no sources of water, but still do not encounter the shortage.

The water resources in Azerbaijan were calculated back in the 1970s. We know the population, but how much water do rural and urban people need exactly? What will happen in 10 or 15 years? The numbers we have are inherited from the ‘70s. We say the precipitation is decreasing, as the temperature and water demand are on the rise. But how much have the numbers changed?

We cannot, in fact, say that there is no water supply. There is simply no efficient exploitation and management. The Ministry of Environment should not be the organisation building reservoirs. There must be two institutions: the user and the controller. There must be constant mutual monitoring between Azersu and the Ministry of Ecology. While Azersu manages water consumption, including agriculture, the Ministry should fulfil the controlling function.

But management requires the estimation of water resources. We already have the institution for it, the Hydrology Department at the Geography Institute of the Academy of Sciences. Saleh Rustamov did the calculations and he published his last book on the matter back in the 1985, which makes them the estimations of late ‘70s and early ‘80s. We must establish new commissions to recalculate. Everyone agrees while they say the Kura is drying and there is no water. But why has it? The main reason is the lack of management over the pumps used on the river.

There are several methods to irrigate. The major countries of the world have long since made riddance of open irrigation. Drip and sprinkler methods are not technologies that are too complicated to imply. There is no need to discover anything new. These systems should have been put in place in Shirvan, Mingachevir and Ganja cities some 20 years ago.

About 170 countries worldwide use seawater. We desalinated seawater for the first time back at the station named after Krasin. The Arab countries have put the system to wide use as they enjoy cheap energy. We need that water, but still, it cannot play a big part in solving our problem, because it is expensive. A litre costs around 2.5 USD to produce. Using water of lower salinity in the collectors seems more logical at this stage. But in any case, the government has made the decision and is hard at work.

AzVision.az

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