Science for Peace: Monitoring Water Quality and Quantity in the Kura—Araks Basin of the South Caucasus

The Kura—Araks River Basin is an international catchment with five countries — Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, and Turkey — comprising its watershed. About 65% of the basin area (total area = about 188,200 km²) falls within the South Caucasus countries of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. Both rivers head in Turkey, join in Azerbaijan, and discharge to the Caspian Sea. The length of the Kura is about 1,515 km and that of the Araks is approximately 1,070 km. Soviet monitoring projects from the 1950s through the 1980s collected water quality and quantity data, but these projects do not exist anymore and many of the data appear to be unavailable. In addition, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, not only did information exchange collapse but the Kura—Arkas also became an international river basin with respect to the three South Caucasus countries. Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia jointly utilize the Kura and Araks rivers and share common problems related to water quantity, water quality, and water allocation. But there are currently no treaties among the three riparians governing water quality, quantity, rights. Monitoring and management of transboundary water are complex problems in any region of the world. In the case of the Kura—Araks River System, the situation is complicated by ongoing regional conflict.