Almost all reservoirs in Azerbaijan's liberated Karabakh in critical condition - ANAS

By Trend

The Republican Center of Seismological Service of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences (ANAS) is currently preparing projects to conduct research on reservoirs in the territory of Karabakh, liberated from the Armenian occupation, General Director of the service, ANAS Corresponding Member, Gurban Yetirmishli told Trend.

“Currently, there are 24 water reservoirs in Karabakh and almost all of them are in emergency condition. Some 22 reservoirs out of these 24 are for reclamation purposes, and the rest 2 - Sarsang and Sugovushan - are used to generate electricity,” said the ANAS member.

“Due to the Armenian occupation that lasted for many years, the study of seismic data on the territory of the waterworks was impossible. The Sarsang reservoir is located on the Tartar River. Due to the Armenian occupation of the region, Azerbaijan couldn’t exploit it. Earlier, the Sarsang reservoir provided irrigation water for about 100,000 hectares of land in six regions of the country (Tartar, Aghdam, Barda, Goranboy, Yevlakh and Agjabadi),” said Yetirmishli.

The service head noted that due to the lack of appropriate technical maintenance during the occupation, the Sarsang reservoir currently poses a serious man-made threat.

“The relief of the area where the Sarsang reservoir is located is very difficult. Seismicity of the terrain can lead to the formation of areas prone to landslides. It is necessary to constantly monitor the geodynamic activity of the territory and conduct appropriate observations. The Sarsang reservoir was used by Armenia as a tool of ecological terror against the population of Azerbaijan,” the ANAS representative added.