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Fallout: Agencies move to deal with major toxic waste mismanagement threatening city ecology

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Together with his cabinet members in charge of emergency situations, agriculture and environment, Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan on Tuesday visited the ground at Nubarashen where a few months ago the situation threatened to turn into a large-scale environmental disaster.

In March this year unknown persons trespassed on the 1980s-built chemical cemetery, where more than 500 tons of expired chemicals are buried, and with the use of heavy engineering equipment leveled the ground, uncovering and leaving in the open air sacks and bottles containing toxic wastes. The situation was aggravated because of a wet spring in Armenia this year as the contents of the toxic waste dump built in a landslide-prone area began to slide down towards the nearby villages, Mushakan and Jrashen, causing a public health scare among its residents.

After repeated warnings from environmentalists and wide coverage in the press the government moved to take steps about a month ago towards neutralizing what threatened to acquire the scale of a major environmental disaster for the entire city.

The government has reported that the risk of such a catastrophe at the dump has been temporarily neutralized. A total of 32 million drams (about $85,000) had been allocated to this effect, it said. Now the wastes have been collected and again buried in the ground, the area has been cleaned and covered with a water-proof layer, the dump area has been surrounded with barbed wire and warning signs and check-points have been installed, reported the government.

During his visit the prime minister listened to representatives of nongovernmental organizations, who suggested that the government provide an ultimate solution to the problem. According to Sargsyan, studies will need to be continued in the territory and the final decision will be made after the findings are provided by international experts.

“The government has now spent enough funds to remove and neutralize, for now, the dangerous consequences after the uncovering of the dump surface; control is being exercised in the surrounding areas and all communities are aware of the problem and will be careful, too. Publicity around this issue, of course, has also helped this matter,” said the premier.

Sargsyan also reportedly instructed the ministries monitoring the toxic waste dump situation to develop a concept, the implementation of which will make it possible to reveal similar problems in all of Armenia.

Nevertheless, environmentalists still remain concerned over the problem at Nubarashen and are not completely satisfied with the results of the government work, since they say the work has only brought the dump to the condition that existed before this year’s emergency. They fear the problems may recur during heavy rain periods or snowmelt.