Azerbaijan, Baku, Dec. 25/ Trend , J. Babayeva/ Azerbaijan's Araz and Kur border rivers are being contaminated by in the territory of Georgia and Armenia.
"The section of the Kur river which runs through Georgia is contaminated. The mixture of phenol and copper combinations considerably exceeds acceptable norms," according to the results of the monitoring conducted by the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources in the second decade of December.
Azerbaijan ratified Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes to address contamination problems on the regional level. The problem is difficult to solve as Armenia and Georgia have not joined the Convention.
In Shikhli-2 section, phenol exceeds acceptable norm of mixture by four times and copper combinations by three times. In Agstafachay, phenol exceeds norm by four times and copper combinations by twice. In Agstafachay water storage phenols exceeds the norm by three times and copper combinations by twice.
Though ions of ammonium, which is a biogenic element, are within the norm, ions of nitrite exceeded acceptable norm of mixture by 2.3 times in Shikli-2 section of Kur, 2.5 times in Gazakh section of Agstafachay, and 2.4 times in Agstafachay water storage. The contamination is caused by discharge of domestic, cattle-breeding and industrial wastes without cleaning.
Copper and phenol exceeds the norm to a great extent in Araz river, transboundary river with Armenia. Phenol, which is the key contaminator, exceeds the norm of mixture in Horadiz section by three times and Shahsevan I and Bahramtapa sections by thrice.
In Bahramtapa section of Araz river ions of ammonium are within a norm while ions of nitrite exceed norms by 1.1 times and 1.2 times in Shahsevan section. The key reason is discharge of wastes from Armenian territory.
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