Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 12
By Umid Niayesh - Trend:
Iran and Armenia will cooperate to prevent Araz River pollution, Iran's IRNA news agency reported on Feb. 12.
Armenia will establish a waste water recycling plant beside its copper producing factory which is located near the Araz River to prevent the river's pollution, Iranian Energy minister, Hamid Chitchian said. He made the remarks after a meeting with Armenian nature protection minister Aram Harutyunyan in Tehran.
The waste water recycling plant was inaugurated last year, but it has not operated continuously, Chitchian said.
The two sides agreed to online monitoring of the recycling plant to ensure the process is not halted, the Iranian minister said.
Monitoring of the Azerbaijani Environment and Natural Resources Ministry indicates that biogenic substances in the Kur and Araz rivers exceed normal levels.
The monitoring results revealed that untreated waste water and sewage industry run off from the territory of Georgia and Armenia has made the amount of biogenic substances in the Kur River and its tributaries much higher than normal, the Ministry said.
The level of phenol and copper in the water has exceeded the norm in the Aghstafachay River as well as the Araz River.