Saving Drinking Water Through the Reconstruction of The Mayakovski Irrigation Network

With the support of Coca-Cola HBC Armenia, the “Shen” charitable non-governmental organization undertook the implementation of the project “Saving drinking water through the reconstruction of the irrigation network of the Mayakovsky settlement of the Abovyan consolidated community of Kotayk Province” with involvement of the Abovyan consolidated community.

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The goal of the project is to conserve drinking water by enhancing the irrigation system and minimizing the use of drinking water for irrigation purposes. The climate conditions of the area are favorable for agricultural production. Still, most of the residents of the Mayakovsky settlement do not have access to irrigation water. The pipeline connecting the Kotayk irrigation canal to the settlement, as well as the internal distribution network, are seriously damaged, resulting in the majority of local villagers being deprived of irrigation water. In some parts of the village, the irrigation distribution network is also either destroyed or absent.

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Thus, 220 of the 428 households in the settlement are not connected to the irrigation system at all and are forced to rely on drinking water from the Katnaghbyur springs to irrigate their plots. The area irrigated with drinking water is about 29 ha. Even in those parts of the settlement where the irrigation system is in place, the supply of irrigation water is unreliable due to the poor condition of the infrastructure and frequent failures. Therefore, many villagers prefer using drinking water in order not to endanger their crops.

The project initiated by “Shen” NGO envisages

• Construction of 3,554 m of new pipelines of the irrigation water distribution network with d=100-125 mm steel pipes and valve systems.

• Replacement of damaged sections of the main steel pipeline with a diameter of 250 mm with a total length of 1,300 m.

• Acquisition and installation of an ultrasonic d=250 mm flowmeter.

As a result of the project, 105,500 m³ of high-quality drinking water will be saved annually, which is equal to the annual consumption norms of about 1,440 people.