Epress.am News from Armenia
The village of Angeghakot in the Armenian Syunik province has been deprived of irrigation water because of three small hydropower plants located above the village's fields, as reported by EcoLur.org on September 16. The SHPPs, which are not included in the administrative area of Angeghakot village, but use the water of Spandaryan reservoir from where Angeghakot gets its irrigation water. As a result, villagers told EcoLur, the village has lost some of its main sources of income.
“We don’t have irrigation water, so this year people were unable to water potatoes. The water canal is located above our fields, it’s our old canal from where we take our water and irrigate our land areas. Now because of the SHPPs there is not enough water,” one of the villagers said.
In an interview with EcoLur, Angeghakot village head, however, said the irrigation problems are not caused by the SHPPs, but the Spandaryan reservoir, which is in a poor condition.
"We have appealed to the relevant authorities to have the canal rehabilitated since Angeghakot only receives 40 liters out of 1cum/s entering the canal. That's Angeghakot's main issue,” the village head stated.