No. 16 (59) April 2004

ORDINARY MEETING OF GWP REGIONAL TECHNICAL CONSULTATIVE COMMITTEE FOR CENTRAL ASIA AND CAUCASUS

The meeting was held in Yerevan, Armenia, on 12-15 April 2004. The main events at the meeting were:

• Meeting of RTCC, GWP CACENA members
• Presentation on water projects in Caucasus
• Excursion to Lake Sevan
• Meeting with USAID
• Meeting with JINJ, Engineering and Consulting Company for Water, Sewage and Environment

The main results of the meeting, problems and next steps are as follows:

Seven of eight countries participated in the meeting of the RTCC for Central Asia and Caucasus. The representative from Azerbaijan could not attend at the meeting, while water expert from Turkmenistan U. Saparov first officially attended after the intermission from November 2002.

RTCC Chairman V. Sokolov opened the meeting, and RTCC member О. Kirokosyan introduced Minister of the Environment of Armenia V. Ayvazyan, who welcomed GWP-CACENA in Armenia and emphasized the importance of GWP role in assistance to implement the new 2002 Water Codex (Law) of Armenia. Within the region, this law was recognized as a sign of progress towards IWRM and as a model for other countries in the region.

In his welcoming speech, GWP Secretariat representative B. Guterstam expressed his gratitude to the minister for recognizing GWP. He explained the foundation of GWP and tasks of work plan in support to countries to implement IWRM plans and plan water resources and role of National Water Partnership in this context.

The issues, discussed by RTCC members at the meeting were these:

• ToolBox version 2 was translated, and 500 copies were published. Among the committee members, there is still a feeling, that the instrument is not fully suitable for daily activity of water professionals, administrators and politicians. RTCC members agreed to start actions according to the Terms of Reference under the ToolBox project in Central and Eastern Europe, Central Asia and Caucasus (the project was proposed by D. Talmeynerova and submitted by V. Sokolov at the meeting). The first joint meeting with Central and Eastern Europe team will be held in Almaty, Kazakhstan, in May 2004.
• How can the community and non-governmental organizations be better involved in GWP? It was agreed to launch a campaign for public awareness in each country in the region.
• Rotation process in RTCC CACENA will begin in 2004, taking into account a special remark on following (improving) gender balance.
• Information of V. Sokolov on the EU Water Initiative Meeting in Moscow in February 2004. There is not a clear definition of so-called construction blocks of the European Water Initiative: financing was not approved during the Moscow meeting. In any case, GWP CACENA should intensify the collaboration with the European Water Initiative activity, directed to IWRM and water supply and sewage problems.
• RTCC member О. Kirokosyan, Armenia, was defined as a participant of GWP meeting in Malaysia in June 2004 for GWP CACENA.
• Uzbekistan is in the initial stage of school program for integrating water issues into traditional school textbooks and traning schoolteachers. The time for implicating the program for raising potential (CapNET) and goal 7 of the UN Millenium Development Goals has come.
• Development of national water partnership at the preparation stage. RTCC members will begin this process, being oriented to “terms of participation” as guidance. This document was translated into Russian. If national water partnerships are to be registered in their countries, they need a formal approval from Stockholm, but not the Secretariat in Tashkent (which has no legalized status)
• The preparation for the meeting in Almaty (Regional Water Conference, Kazakhstan National Water Partnership and RTCC meeting) to be held on 26-28 May 2004 was discussed.
• GWP CACENA will begin the preparation for the Ministerial meeting (Kiev process) in Tbilisi in October 2004.
• RTCC CACENA members agreed upon making 2000 CDs with four bases of the fullest collections of official documents and publications with regard to water sector and environment in Central Asian countries for the recent 14 years, presented by V. Sadomskiy (REC CA).

Presentations of water projects in Caucasus. Deputy Minister of the Environment of Armenia H. Matilyan presided at the session.

• М. Vardanyan, USAID, reported on achievements and prospect of sustainable water resources development in the whole region in concurrence with the new Water Codex of Armenia. In Armenia, the process of transfer to basin planning with five certain river basins including transboundary rivers is beginning. The cooperation along national boundaries with the involvement of local non-governmental organizations and active participation of women in water resources management is taking place. There is a success at technical level of hydro and meteorological services, i.e. information exchange between countries. During the privatization of water supply, the World Bank and Japan were involved. A new Agency for water resources of Armenia, functioning with the support of the USAID, was founded. EC TACIS Project “Joint Management of Kura River” (2002-2004) is the demonstration of the Helsinki Convention practice. The project includes useful training of water specialists in the Netherlands, and installation of laboratory equipment in the institutes of the Ministry for Nature Conservation.
• А. Martirosyan, REC Caucasus, presented a database of the “Environment without restrictions” project (2003-2006) that includes water projects in the context of sustainable development. Database and information on the project was placed in the Internet: www.rec-caucasus.org, www.carec.kz/water
• South Caucasian project for cooperation on rivers monitoring, funded by the NATO and OSCE, was presented by М. Nalbandyan, Armenian Academy of Sciences. The project activities include Armenia, Azerbaijan. Georgia, Belgium, Norway and the US. The project is aimed at water quality monitoring with 10 monitoring stations in each country in the region. Closer cooperation across national borders was undertaken. Monitoring is obligatory for the further planing of water resources in the region. Unfortunately, practically no information was collected during the transition period in the 1990s.
• Legal aspects of IWRM in South Caucasus, Prof. A. Isokyan, President of Public Center for Environmental Lawyers, Yerevan. Ms Isokyan was involved in designing Water Codex of Armenia. She is very optimistic concerning the realization of the new legislation, public participation, women role, environmental protection and its harmonization with other laws on land, forests, lakes, health and sanitation. The representatives from the three countries will meet at the Round Table in Tbilisi to establish Joint Information Center. One of tasks is to join with experts from Western European (Caucasus is in Eastern Europe) for consultations.
• I. Gabayan, Bureau of Water Reforms in Armenia, funded by the World Bank. The project will last up to 2007. Institutional development and economic reforms will cover three main areas: (1) rehabilitation of irrigation systems; (2) dams and safety; (3) water delivery to rural areas. Loans amounting to $90 million will be assigned to urban water supply. 70% of the Armenian people “will have won”.
• State Committee for Water Resources of Armenia (Goskomvodkhoz), Chairman L. Gyumishyan. Information on the exploitation of infrastructure for providing irrigation and drinking water supply with water in the republic of Armenia was presented. Today, the main directions of the activities in irrigation are the rehabilitation of water supply systems and transformation of pumping systems into gravity-flowing ones (transportation of head water intakes to upper reaches). In the field of drinking water supply and sewage the priority is to extend the coverage of population in cities and rural areas with the systems of water supply and wastewater treatment. In Armenia, all water supply services (in both irrigation and drinking water supply) are paid. For the recent two-three years measures for ensuring water accounting in all spheres of water use have been carrying out. The cost of drinking water supply and sewage is 18 American cents per m3, collection rate, for example, for Yerevan in 2003 is 80%. The cost of irrigation water supply is 1.5 American cents per m3, collection rate is 60%.

On 14 April, RTCC members went on a trip to the largest lake in the region, located at a height of 1900 m on a mountainous landscape, surrounded by peaks with a height up to 3500 m. Lake Sevan is protected by a special law, and currently being restored from unsystematic impact on hydrology and ecology since the 1930s.

RTCC member O. Kirokosyan, representative of the Ministry of the Environment, has been leading a team, presenting the “Lake Sevan Action Program” Project, funded by the World Bank, since 1999. This is a corner stone in IWRM planning in the country and Caucasian region.

Meeting of B. Guterstam and V. Sokolov with M. Boyd and M. Vardanyan, USAID, on 15 April. The USAID makes a special contribution to Armenia, which has been determined in the US Federal Law. The result is a four-year Armenian National Water Project. It will be aimed at a special training activity, for example Water Users Associations (WUAs). The USAID welcomes the Armenian progress with the new water legislation; the realization and development of IWRM in the country go 5-8 years ahead in comparison with two neighboring countries. It is very important to support regional cooperation and the application of Armenian experience as a model. This has already taken place in business relations and cooperation between water specialists of three republics.

Meeting of B. Guterstam and V. Sokolov with JINJ Co. Ltd. on 15 April. This company specializes in water infrastructure management, environmental assessment and researches. JINJ plays a key part according to the new principles of water legislation and IWRM, for example, the creation of national database, using new technologies. Armenian water resources planning is in harmony with the European Water Directive principles. Caucasian water resources are concentrated mainly on quantity. Integrated planning of river basin meets the criteria of sustainable development. According to water legislation, the first Council for river basin will be established in the basin of Debed river, which is a tributary of Kura, with the public participation in Armenia and Georgia.

For familiarization with the requirements of new technologies for wastewater management, B. Guterstam gave JINJ officers a lecture on aspects of sanitation and wastewater reuse in various countries in the world.

Conclusion:

• GWP-CACENA made an impulse on its work plan, approved in December 2003 in Tbilisi. Political awareness and a will of state water authorities were showed in Armenia, as well as earlier at the GWP meetings in Georgia, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan.
• RTCC members take on a full responsibility for starting developing a national water partnership. they need a strong support from GWP Regional Secretariat and Head Office.
• Forthcoming event with launching a national water partnership of Kazakhstan and national IWRM planning work program, financed by the Norwegian Government, will be a big forward step for GWP-CACENA.