Problem of irrigation water still pending in Ohanavan village (video)
Residents of Ohanavan village in Armenia’s Aragatsotn region have been left without water this year. They do not remember when they last saw water flowing from the taps of their houses. The locals believe that this is done deliberately. “They cut off our water to give it to Ashtarak, Karbi and Mughni,” I do have enough strength to drink vodka, I am already old, but we do not have drinking water,” “Whenever they want, they cut off the water and send it to Ashtarak or elsewhere,” “I have minor children and I have to walk long distances to fetch water in buckets,” complained the villagers. The streets in the village are dug up for a new water project but it did not solve the problem either: the pipes are made of nylon and not iron. “The pipes contain chemical substances and if water is stored in these tubes it loses its taste and properties,” said Henrik Galstyan, a resident of Ohanavan village. In March, the angered villagers blocked Yerevan-Aparan highway calling the authorities’ attention to the problem. They expressed their disapproval of a construction project which envisaged building a hydroelectric power plant in the region. Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Territorial Administration Armen Gevorgyan visited the village to talk to protesters and although the construction of a hydroelectric power station was discontinued, the problem of irrigation water was not solved.
