Waters of the Lesser Caucasus to quench Baku's thirst Review by Caliber.Az

The global problem of desertification and freshwater shortage is quite relevant for Azerbaijan, which in recent years has faced severe drought and shallowing of the country's main water arteries - the Kura and the Araz, as well as reduction of reserves at a number of reservoirs. The most important task of the government in this connection is reliable water supply to the Absheron Peninsula and Baku, the growing needs of which are planned to be supported by the attraction of additional resources from rivers and reservoirs of the water-abundant region of the Lesser Caucasus. For this purpose, "Reclamation and Water Management" OJSC forced the works on the preparation of the construction of the "Khakarichay" reservoir in Lachin district. It is not excluded that part of the water of this reservoir can be transferred to Baku.

An increase in average air temperature due to unfavourable climatic changes in recent decades has accelerated the process of desertification in the South Caucasus region. To a certain extent, the countries of the region owe this negative effect to an anthropogenic factor - excessive water withdrawal in transboundary rivers of neighbouring Türkiye, Iran, Russia and Georgia, which is caused by increasing water shortage for irrigation needs. As a result, water balance indicators in Azerbaijan have decreased by 15-20 per cent over the last 20 years.

The shortage of water for irrigation and water supply was felt to the greatest extent in 2019-2022 due to several dry seasons with low rainfall, which led to a decrease in the flow of mountain rivers and even shallowing of the Kura and Araz rivers, the two main sources of water of the republic originating outside Azerbaijan. Over the past five years, the volume of water flowing into the Mingachevir reservoir has decreased by up to 50 per cent: in 2018 the reservoir received 823 million cubic metres, but in 2022 this figure dropped to 455 million.

The situation in the northwest of the country has slightly improved this year thanks to a rainy spring and summer. Similar processes are observed in the Samur-Absheron Canal (SAC) system: due to the halving of water reserves in the Samur River, the reserves of the Takhtakorpu reservoir have significantly decreased and at the peak of the decline were only 50 million cubic metres.

It should be noted here that the main sources providing stable water supply to Baku city are Jeyranbatan and Takhtakorpu reservoirs, as well as Oguz-Gabala water pipelines, Shollar line, Khachmaz underground springs, and, of course, Kura water. Shortage of resources in these water-bearing systems, especially in the summer period, in recent years, has created serious problems for the water supply of the capital. In this regard, in some districts of Baku and Absheron settlements, in order to save money, it was decided earlier this year to temporarily switch to scheduled water supply, which the capital's residents have long been accustomed to.

The issues of stable water supply of the country were considered this spring at the plenary session of the Milli Majlis. According to the data voiced by Prime Minister Ali Asadov, today 10.2 million citizens of Azerbaijan annually consume on average about 21 billion cubic metres of water. However, by 2040 the population of the republic will increase to 12.5 million, and water demand will increase 2.1 times, up to 44 billion cubic metres (water supply + irrigation). Providing such a volume of water in the future is a very difficult task if water-saving technologies are not already implemented today.

In this regard, the recently developed "National Water Strategy of Azerbaijan" and the recommendations of the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) will serve as a basis for the current and future measures to optimise water resources management in the country.

According to experts, the main volume of water resources used in the country is directed to the needs of agriculture, and the greatest problems lie here: from a third to a half of irrigation water is lost in the distribution irrigation canals, most of which are earthen. So it is necessary to concretise them or introduce modern technologies using waterproof polymer coatings. Efficient water use will be promoted both by the complete abandonment of irrigation of agricultural lands through earthen ditches and the mass introduction of economic irrigation systems. If this happens, the saved water can be used to supply cities and villages.

The construction of new reservoirs to more fully utilise the potential of the water-abundant region of the Lesser Caucasus is equally important. The Garabagh region, liberated from Armenian occupation, accounts for about 20 per cent of Azerbaijan's emerging water resources. In particular, it is planned to concentrate the resources of rivers, lakes and 24 medium and small reservoirs in the liberated areas. Together with the potential of Khudaferi reservoir with a capacity of over 1.6 billion cubic metres, as well as Sarsang and Sugovushan reservoirs with a capacity of 560 million and 6 million cubic metres respectively, 9 reservoirs are planned to be modernised or built from scratch in the Garabagh region in the coming years. Very promising in this respect are the districts of Kalbajar and Lachin, where the mountain headwaters of ten key rivers of the Garabagh region are located, including such full-flowing rivers as Khakari, Tartarchay, Bazarchay and Khachinchay. It is these rivers that form the main water flow in the Lesser Caucasus region, including feeding the most capacious reservoir of the region, the Sarsang.

In this regard, the construction of the Khakarichay reservoir in the Lachin district, which will be fed by the Khakari River, 113 kilometres long and with an average annual water flow of about 10.7 cubic metres per second, should become the most promising project, the implementation of which is expected to start next year. According to information published the day before by JSC "Land Reclamation and Water Management", it is planned to provide residents of Shusha, Lachin, Gubadli, Zangilan, Jabrayil, Fuzuli and Aghdam districts, as well as Baku city, where a long trunk pipeline will be laid, with the help of this reservoir.

Since December last year the winners of the tender of JSC "Land Reclamation and Water Management" - Azerbaijani-Turkish consortium Hidroloq LLC / Azerbaijani branch of Temelsu Company and Uluslarararası Mühendislik Hizmetleri Anonim Şirkəti have been developing a feasibility study for the construction of the 91 million cubic metre Khakarichay reservoir. Currently, the design work has advanced by almost forty per cent, and the construction plan and feasibility study are scheduled to be completed by October next year.

According to experts, the resources of the Khakari River flowing in the Lachin district will provide clean drinking water to the districts liberated from occupation and up to three million people in Azerbaijan. After the construction of pumping stations on the main line, it is planned to supply water to 7 districts located geographically above the level of the future reservoir.

It is worth recalling that Azerbaijan has already had a very successful experience of transferring huge amounts of water to the capital from the northwestern regions of the country. In particular, the construction of the 263-kilometre Oguz-Gabala-Baku water pipeline, which was completed in December 2010, delivers a maximum of five cubic metres of water per second to the capital. For the first time, glass fibre-reinforced (GPR) pipes with a diameter of 2,000 mm were used in this endeavour, and 78 production wells with a maximum flow rate of 70 litres per second were drilled in the Oguz district to collect water. The experience gained during the implementation of this project is also applicable to the transfer of river resources from the Lesser Caucasus to the capital of Azerbaijan, which is experiencing water shortages.