And it would seem that there is nothing strange in this figure, as the management of Azersu JSC has previously voiced frightening statistics on the losses, but now this fact has taken a final form as the figure approved by the government, which means that measures to prevent these losses will be more serious than before.
However, I would rather not start the article with criticism, as the work carried out recently in the field of improving drinking water supply to the population is really impressive. Here is a list of some of them: the reconstruction of the Kura-Baku section of the main water pipeline is underway, Azersu JSC has selected a contractor to improve water supply to a number of villages in Ismayilli District and the work itself will start soon, construction of the Jeyranbatan-Mashtaga-Nardaran section of the water pipeline and reservoir has started. This is only the work that was started in 2023, while there are many projects that have already been implemented and are close to completion.
However, despite the considerable scope of work carried out within each of these projects and the vastness of the entire water supply system of the capital city, the approach proposed in the Baku Urban Development Master Plan has a much larger scale, if only because it, of course, is not limited only to the problems of supply and the needs of residents of Baku and the Absheron Peninsula in drinking water or wastewater disposal, but also offers options in this area, related to all other segments of the city’s development and improvement of people’s lives in all areas.
Most importantly, the document shows how all these issues are interconnected. After all, it is impossible to predict how much water the residents of a particular district of Baku will need if one does not know the number of people who will live there by 2040, how other communication lines or transportation links will run under and above the ground, where a new housing estate will be built or a new park will be built.
For example, it becomes clear that former railroad corridors, industrial sites, military facilities, and other areas will be used for the development of new neighborhoods in the future. And this is the strength of the Master Plan.
What new approaches does the document envisage in terms of competent water resources management? It is known that at present water is supplied to the Absheron Peninsula from its borders in the amount of 2 million cubic meters per day and only about 30% is used as drinking water. About 10% is used for technical purposes such as cooling of special technical equipment or for fire-fighting purposes. And regardless of the purpose, all water is treated to drinking water standards. However, the Absheron Peninsula also has its own water reserves in the form of groundwater or lakes. However, its quality is deteriorating because of soil fertilization and climatic factors.
In order to ensure the reliability of the engineering water networks, the Master Plan proposes the following: to take into account any changes in the number of users, to carry out measures to meet the overall needs of the city and the region, to build a modern water infrastructure taking into account environmental and social requirements, and even to develop a national water balance, and to identify data and trends in this area. Water reuse is envisaged, i.e., treatment of wastewater in areas of high demand, separation of domestic wastewater from the storm water drainage system and prevention of water discharge into Absheron’s water bodies and the Caspian Sea.
Shockingly, according to the National Report on the Framework Convention on Climate Change, Azerbaijan’s national water resources will decrease by more than 23% by 2050. If you think about it, this is almost a whole quarter of what we have now, and this is terrifying.
Today, the Absheron Peninsula consumes about 6% or 744 million cubic meters of water per year. But the problems with water supply are already very real today and they are reflected in the Master Plan. For example, it takes into account the fact that in Baku, a city of 3 million people, in some areas water is supplied intermittently, with breaks and interruptions of up 6 hours a day and up to 14 days a month. That is, some residents of Absheron actually live without water for almost half of the month and are forced to stock up on water when it is supplied. And this is despite the fact that the water supply system of Baku and the whole peninsula is estimated as quite extensive and operating in the area with a challenging terrain.
Although there are plans to modernize many things and introduce new elements into the system by 2040, such as production of drinking water from sea water, the Master Plan is designed so that by 2040 water consumption will be 150 liters per day per person, compared to the current 288 liters. But this does not mean that people will receive less water than they need, because we are talking here only about drinking water, and other uses such as watering and irrigation of areas, landscaping, use of technical water, etc. will be excluded from this segment. Today, water is supplied to households without such segmentation and everything is classified as drinking water, with consumers themselves deciding how to use it.
The Master Plan puts special emphasis on water that can be extracted from the sea. You may recall that Azersu JSC of the State Agency for Water Resources of Azerbaijan has already invited the Israeli Mekorot Water Company as a technical consultant to implement a pilot project on seawater desalination. Other efforts are even more fantastic. For example, there are plans to create a water intake system for the Central Park, build an underground reservoir to collect rainwater during heavy precipitation with further use in irrigation, an underground reservoir in the underground parking lot of the Winter Garden, install irrigation facilities in the Atatürk Park, gutters to increase the passage of water on Khatai Avenue, drains on the low parts of Neftchiler Avenue and on the boulevard, build points of discharge to the Caspian Sea, etc. Apparently, this issue is so well elaborated that the Master Plan even specifies the height of the special gutters to be installed in parks along the edges of the areas where vegetation is planted or along roads and highways. It is believed that water will flow down these gutters to be collected in special reservoirs.
It is hard to say now to what extent the government will be able to implement all the measures specified in the Baku Urban Development Master Plan. After all, we are dealing with the development strategy and forecasts up to 2040, that is, with what all public services implementing any works in Baku and Absheron will be guided by. But the very fact that such document, something that the population of the capital has been waiting for a long time, was produced in the first place should be considered positive.
Rauf Nasirov
Translated from Minval.az
