No Home, No Water: District in Vanadzor goes dry because of construction

One of the owners of the district land has dismantled the pipe providing its residents with drinking water during construction of his property. As a result, the water pipeline remained empty leaving many of the residents of District N.1 waterless.

The disctrict was created after 1988 for those who had lost their homes during the earthquake. However, when they got new apartments, the authorities made a decision to sell the district.

The municipality of Vanadzor has put the major part of the district area to auction since 2000 leaving the half ruined and worn out houses and its residents as a heritage to the new owner.

The municipality only recently promised apartments to the still remaining residents of the district (16,800 square meters of the district is sold out of 21,600).

Martin Ohanyan has been living in the district since he was 29. Already 47, this man and his wife have raised their only son fighting against the lack of comfort in his two-room house and the authorities.

Ohanyan’s family has nowhere to go from the small house. Ohanyan demanded explanation for the dismantled water pipe from the new owner two months ago after he and his neighbors were left waterless.

“He said it used to make trouble for him,” says Ohanyan, who realizes the area has an owner who is free to do whatever he wants. Still Ohanyan and his neighbors believed the new owner could cut the pipe in a way as to save their source of water.

The two month long quarrel and negotiations did not result in anything for the district residents. They continue to carry water from the taps in the nearby yards with the taps in their own homes staying dry.

Karine Ayvazyan, 52, says the water problems began earlier in winter: “We have carried water all the winter. One of the folks fell and broke his arm; another one was unable to fetch the water home.”

There are now 68 families living in the district; and the pipe supplying water to 20 of them has been dismantled.

Grisha Paravyan, head of the Vanadzor municipality department for condominiums says they had warned the owners of the land to dismantle the pipe without causing damages to the residents.

The water and sewage pipelines were drawn to the district by the residents, not the state.

Albert Zhamharyan, technical director of the Lori-Jrmughkoyughi (Water and Sewage) CJSC says the toilets and the taps are installed in the small houses illegally.

The discomfort caused by the outdoor toilet and the drinking water taps installed when the small houses were set, forced the residents to create their own toilets and drinking water supplies.

Paravyan says the sanitary situation created by the worn out sewage and water pipelines 20 years of age is dangerous.

Despite the Lori province hygiene and anti-epidemic center has not received any alarm call so far, Ohanyan, the resident of the district insists using the toilets without water may pose a threat of epidemic.

Sargis Ginosyan, acting general director of the Jrmughkoyughi Company says they have no obligation over the residents of the district.

“They are not our subscribers,” he says as the residents of the district are not registered in the database of the company. The company has offered for them to become subscribers to their services as the company can discuss and solve the problems with their water supply only after that. (the subscription is free, the residents only to pay the cost of water meter, 11,000 drams ($36)

The district has been provided with water without however a properly regulated relations between the providing company and the consumers.

The company considers them illegal users.

“Why should I become a subscriber now?!” asks Ayvazyan, the resident of the district. The residents are concerned the company may say they owe it fake sums. Ayvazyan and her neighbors have already faced a problem of the kind.

The local authorities have programs of solving the district problems. The district will be emptied from the houses before the end of the year. The residents will be given new apartments.

Samvel Darbinyan, the mayor of Vanadzor has stated many times the state has no obligation in solving the problem of apartments to families who have moved to the town, who are newly formed, who used to rent apartments or who somehow appeared in the small houses in post- earthquake period.

The solution of the problem of the residents who appeared in the district for reasons other than the earthquake began in autumn, when Serzh Sargsyan, then the Prime Minister of Armenia, visited Vanadzor. He had told the protesting residents of the houses not to leave the house before getting the keys to new apartments.