Water Supply & Sanitation in Rural Armenia

1. Water Supply & Sanitation in Rural Armenia Armenian Women for Health and Healthy Environment Elena Manvelyan, MD. PhD Workshop on equitable access to water Paris, 5-6 July 2007

2. Armenia Area: 29.750 sq. km Population: 3.200.000 Capital: Yerevan

3. General Data • 43.7 % live in poverty • 14.7% in utter poverty < 1 USD per day Source: IMF 2006, Country Report No. 06/239\ • 80% rural have no access to central sewage system Source: OECD and country report, 2004 • About 7 % of all infant deaths are attributed to diarrhea diseases in Armenia (NSS, 2006.)

4. Problems • Collapse of water supply systems especially in rural communities have resulted in inadequate and often unsanitary water supply • The loss of water in Ararat province accounted for 73.5% in 2006 • Water providers still are not able to guarantee the implementation of the right to water for all, in particular for the poorest

5. Problems • The lack of sewage system in rural areas (more than 80%) attributed to secondary drinking water contamination • Sanitation sector has been neglected with the respect to investment and subsidies • The lack of strategy and differentiation of tariffs to address the needs of marginalised and vulnerable individuals and groups

6. Legal and Institutional Frameworkof Water and Sanitation Services • The Government developed an Integrated Water Resources Management Program /IWRMP/ in 1999-2000. The program covered an assessment of water resources in Armenia and developed fundamental provisions of Armenian’s water policies • Based on IWRMP Concept Paper for Reforming Water Resources and Water System Management in Armenia was approved by the RoA Government in 2001

7. Legal and Institutional Frameworkof Water and Sanitation Services • Establishment of the State Committee of Water Resources (SCWR) in 2001 • Establishment of the Water Resources Management Agency . February 2001 • Adoption of a new Water Code. June 4, 2002

8. Financing Water and Sanitation Services in Rural Areas • Subsidies and donations for the WSS can be allotted by the communities • Appropriate sums are foreseen in the state budget • Several loan projects were implemented during the last five years and are ongoing in the country: The main loans are coming from The World Bank; The International Development Association (IDA); United Nations Development Program (UNDP); United States AID (USAID); the German Government through the KfW Ban

9. Investment in rural areas(Ararat province) • Water supply improvement activities in city Artashat and rural settlements with the support of USAID 2008-2009, ($ 3mln); Asian Development Bank (some villages of Ararat province will be included in the investment program) • At present the lack of dotations to support investments in water supply and sanitation in Ararat province

10. Affordability for low income people • Lack of reduced tariff for water supply and sanitation • Lack of criteria for low income people to benefit from targeted aid • The Government pays directly to the water companies for the electricity related to water supply

11. Local Context: the village of Hayanist • 2440 inhabitants, 90% refugees • High unemployment and/or low income • Only 100 households are provided with safe drinking water supply • Women overrepresented due to migration of men • Waste water from toilets is disposed into the open drainage channels • Usage of drainage water for irrigation • High risk of soil and groundwater contamination

12. Local Context: the village of Hayanist • Regularly flooded during spring • A very bad condition of the school toilet (374 pupils) • Children infected by parasites

13. Activities in frame of TMF project • Parasitological investigation of schoolchildren’s stool and treatment of infected children • Designing and building of school ecotoilet for 365 schoolchildren and 23 teachers • Laying water pipes on in one district of village, providing 167 households with safe drinking water

14. Conclusion • Armenia aims at ensuring an access to drinking water for everyone, restoring the water supply service, supported by a legal framework • However, water providers are still not able to guarantee the implementation of the right to water for all, in particular for the poorest • Lack of transparency of the streams of financial assets assigned by the Government, Banks, Credit programs for the activities and development of this sphere

15. Recommendations • To improve water supply management in rural areas • To provide an access to safe sanitation for rural population • To implement alternative sanitation in the rural communities • To push forward the adoption of the Law on Drinking Water (presently in process) and legislative acts • To give more attention to and financing of sanitation • ;

16. Recommendations • To raise awareness among the rural population about the efficient use of water resources • To develop a strategy to address the needs of marginalised and vulnerable groups • To implement differentiation of tariffs for different groups of consumers • To obtain more finance for improvement water supply and sanitation • To make more transparent the streams of financial assets assigned by the Government, Banks, Credit programs for the activities and development of this sphere

17. We have to answer : Is it realistic to achieve MDG 7 goal? • MDG 7 aims to halve by 2015 the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitations

18. Water sampling

19. Physical accessibility

22. Hayanist Eco San Toilet