Irrespective of the decrease of consumption, Kapan continues consuming the agricultural products of Syuniq community that were and are poisoned by heavy metals
Syuniq community, located in the south of Armenia, is a little community of five villages. And when someone falls ill here, people most of all look for this or that medicine, or a doctor and then come to Yerevan after a long and hard journey to have an operation.
The question why? is asked seldom, as they strangely and cold-heartedly explain, "Kapan is a place, where not only the air and the water but also the land is polluted". People here understand what these words mean and are aware of the consequences, but in the absence of any alternative of place and opportunity of living they continue to live here.
It is already 30 years that 48-year-old Armeza Stepanyan lives in the village of Syuniq (Syuniq community). "Three years ago I found out I had tumor (myoma), after it I underwent an operation", she said. Being a mother of three grown-up children and already a grandmother, she is afraid that her happiness won’t last long.
"There are many women in Kapan that have the same sickness. The year that I had the operation, many of our teachers and neighbors also underwent operations in Goris or Yerevan. It seems that myoma became an infectious disease here", Armeza says, who cannot cultivate her own land because of ill-health.
Sometimes the only consolation is that she is not the only one here. "Even after operation I dont feel better, my blood pressure is always high or low, I have headaches, my eyesight has become worse, I have become nervous. In addition to these, I have to undergo sonography every three months". No one supported Armeza, when she underwent the operation.
In 2007, the RA National Academy of Sciences Center for Ecological-Noosphere Studies carried out a scientific program "Assessment of the tailing dumps of the mining industry and Kapan Cooper Conglomerates activity impact on Kapan environment" in the village, where Armeza lives, investigating the community lands and the agricultural products that appeared in the market of Kapan poisoned by heavy metals.
The OSCE Yerevan office informed "Azg" daily that they financially supported the research works, and based on the Environment Protection Report of the national experts of the South Caucasus, Kajaran-Kapan area was classed as ecologically "hot area".
At the request of Kajaran Municipality the first thorough investigation was carried out in Kajaran in 2005, and a Local Environment Program for Kajaran was worked out based on it. In 2007, at the request of Kapan Municipality similar investigation was carried out in Kapan, the OSCE Yerevan office reported.
The nature and the human being unprotected against pollution
In 2007, an extensive research was carried out to assess the environmental pollution by heavy metals in Kapan and its adjacent areas. "According to the research, the level of the pollution in the territory was not high in general, in spite of the fact that Kapan is a city of mines, and a mining plant works here, part of the city is located on a mine, and several old mining dumps exist. The report was presented by Director of the Center for Ecological-Noosphere Studies, Doctor of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences Armen Saghatelyan. According to him, the only problem in Kapan is high level of arsenic. The source of arsenic is the slopes around Kapan, and as the drainage system is not built properly, arsenic with rain-waters flows down to the city. The rusty waters spread and then dry up, and a thin layer of high level of arsenic appears that spreads over the city.
"The authorities of Kapan that made a request for conducting a research presented in their application they fell that the population of the city were sick and tumors were frequent there. So, we started to find the risk factors focusing our attention to the chain of food, i.e. agricultural food that was consumed by the community members", Mr. Saghatelyan said.
According to him, the Center studied separately the lands and then the vegetables that grow on those lands. The research was mainly conducted in Syuniq community, as the lands of this village are actively cultivated and this community land mainly feed Kapan and Kajaran. "In summer, when we worked there, we saw that the product was sent to market every day. The investigation discovered that the level of pollution of those lands is higher than the permitted level of density. A wide range of heavy metals (copper, molybdenum, nickel, chromium, arsenic, lead, etc.) is available in those lands. We also recorded the presence of mercury that is considered the most poisonous metal.
We examined a wide range of foods tomato, cucumber, pepper, watermelon, egg-plant, marrow, greens and bean, and discovered that the level of heavy metals in these products, especially in greens and bean, is very high". According to Saghatelyan, the level of pollution here is disastrous. "To our surprise, the presence of heavy metals is very high in the fruits as well confirming our belief in deep pollution of the land".
There are three canyons in Syuniq community Norashenik, Syuniq and Artsvanik, and according to the specialist, though the pollution level is different here, it is high in three of them..
"Then we began to investigate the irrigation system. After a thorough investigation, we discovered that mining waters flow from many abandoned mining pits and mountain cuttings of Soviet times into irrigation waters, and the village-dwellers use this irrigation waters having no other choice, and as a result, we have this dreadful pollution."
According to Armen Saghatelyan, the situation is very serious, so the Center for Ecological-Noosphere Studies has worked out a project to find a technology to decrease the pollution of those lands.
"We found a partner, Darmstadt University of Technology that is very experienced in land and water purification technologies. We have also a biochemical laboratory specialized in this sphere. In case of conducting the program, well find a relatively inexpensive technology in order to neutralize or at least decrease the level of pollution. At present the project undergoes international examination and in case of positive results well start the research works next year".
The nature doesnt have self-purification mechanisms for decreasing the pollution by heavy metals. In the UN Environmental Programme report of 2007 the international experts rank pollution by heavy metals the same level like climate change or ozone layer depletion.
"The influence of heavy metals becomes noticeable slowly, after decades. It doesnt have smell or taste. And using of toxic food leads to grave consequences cancer, it influences on two processes reproduction and heredity", Armen Saghatelyan noted. "The worlds practice shows that anemia is one of the consequences of the pollution by heavy metals. We dont have statistics but some NGOs make complaints that the percentage of malignant tumors in this area is high.
We handed the investigation results to Kapan Municipality and noted what must be done to avoid further pollution of the lands. "There are some engineering solutions that were put into practice in Soviet times". According to Mr. Saghatelyan, the mining industry comes from Soviet times, but we didnt have similar problem at that time, as the irrigation was carried out with clean water from higher places. The mining waters flowed down into the River Voghji.
"But this kind of engineering solutions can only stop further pollution of the lands. The mining waters should not flow into rivers; they should be gathered and purified that has not been done for more than ten years. We should not allow the mining waters flow into the Rivers Tejadin, Syuniq and Barabatum".
Greens are sold in the market of Kapan after "irrigated" with heavy metals
Seyran Avetisyan, head of the self-government and republican executive bodies regional services activities coordination department of the regional municipality (marzpetaran) of Syuniq is concerned about the investigation results, if they are trustworthy. "As a member of Syuniq community I should mention that in case of accidents sometimes there is pollution, but at present we have an alternative irrigation system from the River Geghi. This year the irrigation was done mostly from this river".
According to the marzpetaran official, previously people gave the alarm of pollution because of the accidents, and Kapan Conglomerate, which is the main reason of pollution in the region, compensated for the damages and cleaned the polluted parts of the area.
The alternative irrigation system cannot change anything in this situation, as the lands are already polluted by heavy metals, though the irrigation is not always done from "clean sources", according to the community members.
60-year-old Razmik Davityan lives in Kapan with his 85-year-old mother Barushka. On the weekends, he cultivates his aunts land in the village of Syuniq. On 500 ha of land they grow vegetables, greens and bean.
"We irrigate our land with the waters of Norashenik; sometimes it is yellow and muddy, we wait a little and when the water becomes cleaner we again continue irrigating, as we dont have another source of irrigation", Davityan spoke of his concern and helpless condition. They know that those lands are polluted and the water increases the level of pollution but they have no alternative.
"The waters were worse several years ago, now they seem cleaner", 60-year-old Razmik gives himself hope.
Anahit Sargsyan irrigates her 800 m plot with the same water, though Seyran Avetisyan assures that Syuniq community members dont use it. The 47-year-old womans family consists of six people. "We all work on our land. We have fruit trees. We grow greens, bean and vegetables", Anahit says.
They irrigate the land with the water that comes down from the tailing dump of Artsvaniq. "We understand that this water is not clean. Before it was clean and there were many fishes in it, but now you can see a few of them. We have heard that it is dangerous to irrigate the lands with that water, but we have no choice, it is our livelihood.
According to Seyran Avetisyan, the volume of agricultural product of Syuniq community in the market of Kapan is not serious. "Unfortunately, today the community of Syuniq doesnt have serious volumes of consumption in the market of Kapan; it decreases year by year, as people leave the community and dont cultivate the lands. Besides, the vegetables are imported from other regions. I would say that it is not an ecological but market problem. The health care of Syuniq community or Kapan does not differ from other communities.
In the agro-food market of Kapan the sellers assured that tomato and cucumber were brought from Ararat and Armavir, though the prices didnt correspond to the products brought from far places. Only bean, greens and maize were presented as local, exactly from the community of Syuniq a community, were, according to the results of the investigation, molybdenum, nickel, chromium, zinc and palladium in the greens exceed the permitted level. Bean and maize are also highly polluted with heavy metals.
Avo Tsatryan, deputy head of the agricultural and environmental department of the regional municipality of Syuniq, testifies about the results of market monitoring, "In the past, 80 percent of vegetables were cultivated in Syuniq community; it provided about 1000 tonnes of vegetable to the population of Kapan. And also greens. Today vegetables percentage is low, but Syuniq remains the main source of greens in the market."
"Of course, there is pollution of lands, and mainly because of damages of waste pipes that pass through the Norashenik Canyon from the upper part of the River Khalach. And then flow down into the tailing dump of Artsvanik that is the biggest one in Armenia", Mr. Tsatryan elucidates.
"Because of the frequent damages of those pipes the waste comes out into the waters used by the people of the community for irrigation purposes. Naturally, in this cases the water is not good for irrigation and causes ecological problems influencing on peoples health", the official says.
And as the waste sediments accumulate and the irrigation ditch hasnt been cleaned this year, the water again pollutes the land, it doesnt matter how clean it is. According to Avo Tsatryan, the source of the pitch was built in a higher place than the waste pipe, from the clean waters of Norashenik, but then it was damaged and the water pool was filled with mud and it doesnt work now. This is the reason why the water is not taken from the upper part of the waste pipe; Tejadin is the source of irrigation, where the waters from the waste pipe mix with irrigation waters".
Syuniq community, located in the south of Armenia, is a little community of five villages. And when someone falls ill here, people most of all look for this or that medicine, or a doctor and then come to Yerevan after a long and hard journey to have an operation.
The question why? is asked seldom, as they strangely and cold-heartedly explain, "Kapan is a place, where not only the air and the water but also the land is polluted". People here understand what these words mean and are aware of the consequences, but in the absence of any alternative of place and opportunity of living they continue to live here.
It is already 30 years that 48-year-old Armeza Stepanyan lives in the village of Syuniq (Syuniq community). "Three years ago I found out I had tumor (myoma), after it I underwent an operation", she said. Being a mother of three grown-up children and already a grandmother, she is afraid that her happiness won’t last long.
"There are many women in Kapan that have the same sickness. The year that I had the operation, many of our teachers and neighbors also underwent operations in Goris or Yerevan. It seems that myoma became an infectious disease here", Armeza says, who cannot cultivate her own land because of ill-health.
Sometimes the only consolation is that she is not the only one here. "Even after operation I dont feel better, my blood pressure is always high or low, I have headaches, my eyesight has become worse, I have become nervous. In addition to these, I have to undergo sonography every three months". No one supported Armeza, when she underwent the operation.
In 2007, the RA National Academy of Sciences Center for Ecological-Noosphere Studies carried out a scientific program "Assessment of the tailing dumps of the mining industry and Kapan Cooper Conglomerates activity impact on Kapan environment" in the village, where Armeza lives, investigating the community lands and the agricultural products that appeared in the market of Kapan poisoned by heavy metals.
The OSCE Yerevan office informed "Azg" daily that they financially supported the research works, and based on the Environment Protection Report of the national experts of the South Caucasus, Kajaran-Kapan area was classed as ecologically "hot area".
At the request of Kajaran Municipality the first thorough investigation was carried out in Kajaran in 2005, and a Local Environment Program for Kajaran was worked out based on it. In 2007, at the request of Kapan Municipality similar investigation was carried out in Kapan, the OSCE Yerevan office reported.
The nature and the human being unprotected against pollution
In 2007, an extensive research was carried out to assess the environmental pollution by heavy metals in Kapan and its adjacent areas. "According to the research, the level of the pollution in the territory was not high in general, in spite of the fact that Kapan is a city of mines, and a mining plant works here, part of the city is located on a mine, and several old mining dumps exist. The report was presented by Director of the Center for Ecological-Noosphere Studies, Doctor of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences Armen Saghatelyan. According to him, the only problem in Kapan is high level of arsenic. The source of arsenic is the slopes around Kapan, and as the drainage system is not built properly, arsenic with rain-waters flows down to the city. The rusty waters spread and then dry up, and a thin layer of high level of arsenic appears that spreads over the city.
"The authorities of Kapan that made a request for conducting a research presented in their application they fell that the population of the city were sick and tumors were frequent there. So, we started to find the risk factors focusing our attention to the chain of food, i.e. agricultural food that was consumed by the community members", Mr. Saghatelyan said.
According to him, the Center studied separately the lands and then the vegetables that grow on those lands. The research was mainly conducted in Syuniq community, as the lands of this village are actively cultivated and this community land mainly feed Kapan and Kajaran. "In summer, when we worked there, we saw that the product was sent to market every day. The investigation discovered that the level of pollution of those lands is higher than the permitted level of density. A wide range of heavy metals (copper, molybdenum, nickel, chromium, arsenic, lead, etc.) is available in those lands. We also recorded the presence of mercury that is considered the most poisonous metal.
We examined a wide range of foods tomato, cucumber, pepper, watermelon, egg-plant, marrow, greens and bean, and discovered that the level of heavy metals in these products, especially in greens and bean, is very high". According to Saghatelyan, the level of pollution here is disastrous. "To our surprise, the presence of heavy metals is very high in the fruits as well confirming our belief in deep pollution of the land".
There are three canyons in Syuniq community Norashenik, Syuniq and Artsvanik, and according to the specialist, though the pollution level is different here, it is high in three of them..
"Then we began to investigate the irrigation system. After a thorough investigation, we discovered that mining waters flow from many abandoned mining pits and mountain cuttings of Soviet times into irrigation waters, and the village-dwellers use this irrigation waters having no other choice, and as a result, we have this dreadful pollution."
According to Armen Saghatelyan, the situation is very serious, so the Center for Ecological-Noosphere Studies has worked out a project to find a technology to decrease the pollution of those lands.
"We found a partner, Darmstadt University of Technology that is very experienced in land and water purification technologies. We have also a biochemical laboratory specialized in this sphere. In case of conducting the program, well find a relatively inexpensive technology in order to neutralize or at least decrease the level of pollution. At present the project undergoes international examination and in case of positive results well start the research works next year".
The nature doesnt have self-purification mechanisms for decreasing the pollution by heavy metals. In the UN Environmental Programme report of 2007 the international experts rank pollution by heavy metals the same level like climate change or ozone layer depletion.
"The influence of heavy metals becomes noticeable slowly, after decades. It doesnt have smell or taste. And using of toxic food leads to grave consequences cancer, it influences on two processes reproduction and heredity", Armen Saghatelyan noted. "The worlds practice shows that anemia is one of the consequences of the pollution by heavy metals. We dont have statistics but some NGOs make complaints that the percentage of malignant tumors in this area is high.
We handed the investigation results to Kapan Municipality and noted what must be done to avoid further pollution of the lands. "There are some engineering solutions that were put into practice in Soviet times". According to Mr. Saghatelyan, the mining industry comes from Soviet times, but we didnt have similar problem at that time, as the irrigation was carried out with clean water from higher places. The mining waters flowed down into the River Voghji.
"But this kind of engineering solutions can only stop further pollution of the lands. The mining waters should not flow into rivers; they should be gathered and purified that has not been done for more than ten years. We should not allow the mining waters flow into the Rivers Tejadin, Syuniq and Barabatum".
Greens are sold in the market of Kapan after "irrigated" with heavy metals
Seyran Avetisyan, head of the self-government and republican executive bodies regional services activities coordination department of the regional municipality (marzpetaran) of Syuniq is concerned about the investigation results, if they are trustworthy. "As a member of Syuniq community I should mention that in case of accidents sometimes there is pollution, but at present we have an alternative irrigation system from the River Geghi. This year the irrigation was done mostly from this river".
According to the marzpetaran official, previously people gave the alarm of pollution because of the accidents, and Kapan Conglomerate, which is the main reason of pollution in the region, compensated for the damages and cleaned the polluted parts of the area.
The alternative irrigation system cannot change anything in this situation, as the lands are already polluted by heavy metals, though the irrigation is not always done from "clean sources", according to the community members.
60-year-old Razmik Davityan lives in Kapan with his 85-year-old mother Barushka. On the weekends, he cultivates his aunts land in the village of Syuniq. On 500 ha of land they grow vegetables, greens and bean.
"We irrigate our land with the waters of Norashenik; sometimes it is yellow and muddy, we wait a little and when the water becomes cleaner we again continue irrigating, as we dont have another source of irrigation", Davityan spoke of his concern and helpless condition. They know that those lands are polluted and the water increases the level of pollution but they have no alternative.
"The waters were worse several years ago, now they seem cleaner", 60-year-old Razmik gives himself hope.
Anahit Sargsyan irrigates her 800 m plot with the same water, though Seyran Avetisyan assures that Syuniq community members dont use it. The 47-year-old womans family consists of six people. "We all work on our land. We have fruit trees. We grow greens, bean and vegetables", Anahit says.
They irrigate the land with the water that comes down from the tailing dump of Artsvaniq. "We understand that this water is not clean. Before it was clean and there were many fishes in it, but now you can see a few of them. We have heard that it is dangerous to irrigate the lands with that water, but we have no choice, it is our livelihood.
According to Seyran Avetisyan, the volume of agricultural product of Syuniq community in the market of Kapan is not serious. "Unfortunately, today the community of Syuniq doesnt have serious volumes of consumption in the market of Kapan; it decreases year by year, as people leave the community and dont cultivate the lands. Besides, the vegetables are imported from other regions. I would say that it is not an ecological but market problem. The health care of Syuniq community or Kapan does not differ from other communities.
In the agro-food market of Kapan the sellers assured that tomato and cucumber were brought from Ararat and Armavir, though the prices didnt correspond to the products brought from far places. Only bean, greens and maize were presented as local, exactly from the community of Syuniq a community, were, according to the results of the investigation, molybdenum, nickel, chromium, zinc and palladium in the greens exceed the permitted level. Bean and maize are also highly polluted with heavy metals.
Avo Tsatryan, deputy head of the agricultural and environmental department of the regional municipality of Syuniq, testifies about the results of market monitoring, "In the past, 80 percent of vegetables were cultivated in Syuniq community; it provided about 1000 tonnes of vegetable to the population of Kapan. And also greens. Today vegetables percentage is low, but Syuniq remains the main source of greens in the market."
"Of course, there is pollution of lands, and mainly because of damages of waste pipes that pass through the Norashenik Canyon from the upper part of the River Khalach. And then flow down into the tailing dump of Artsvanik that is the biggest one in Armenia", Mr. Tsatryan elucidates.
"Because of the frequent damages of those pipes the waste comes out into the waters used by the people of the community for irrigation purposes. Naturally, in this cases the water is not good for irrigation and causes ecological problems influencing on peoples health", the official says.
And as the waste sediments accumulate and the irrigation ditch hasnt been cleaned this year, the water again pollutes the land, it doesnt matter how clean it is. According to Avo Tsatryan, the source of the pitch was built in a higher place than the waste pipe, from the clean waters of Norashenik, but then it was damaged and the water pool was filled with mud and it doesnt work now. This is the reason why the water is not taken from the upper part of the waste pipe; Tejadin is the source of irrigation, where the waters from the waste pipe mix with irrigation waters".
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