Reports on Environment and Urban Development for Alaverdy

GEO ALAVERDI: ENVIRONMENT AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 3: STATE OF THE ENVIRONMENT

1. Description of the conditions of the ambient air in Alaverdi The landscape ofAlaverdi, especially the gorge ofDebedRiver, and the location of Yerevan-Alaverdi-Tbilisi overloaded highway create unfavorable conditions for the ambient air in the city concerning the accumulation of emissions. The two air monitoring stations of the city are used for controlling four main pollutants: dust, sulfur dioxide, carbon oxide, nitrogen dioxide compounds. In 2005 the following situation have been recorded: the average annual concentration of dust has exceeded the maximum allowable concentration (MAC) 4 1,3 times; the sulfur dioxide - 10,4 times. In 49% of the samples taken, the MAC for the sulfur dioxide has been exceeded 2,4 times; for the nitrogen dioxide 7% of samples exceeded MAC by 1,3 times. Compared to the previous year, no signi fi cant improvement has been registered in regard to the average annual concentration of the monitored substances.

Table 3.1. Results of the monitoring, 2008

Monitored substances, number of monitoring posts (in brackets)

The observed maximum

MAC (mg/m 3 )

Number of exceedances of the MACs

Average annual concen- tration (mg/m 3 )

concentrations (mg/m 3 ) and the numbers on the observation stations (in brackets)

>1 MAC

>5 MAC

Maxi- mum

Average daily

Dust (1)

-

-

-

0,2

0,5 0,15

Sulfur dioxide (2) Carbon oxide (2) Nitrogen dioxide (2)

1,19 (2) 5 (1;2)

874 -

0,52 0,50 0,05

-

-

2

5

3

0,11 (1;2) 0,04 0,085 0,04 Source: “Information on ambient air situation in settlements for 2008 year”, EIMC, Yerevan, 2009, p.5. 124 -

Emissions from a permanent source. In the end of 80s, the maximum annual quantity of emissions to the ambient air in Alaverdi was over 41 thousand tones, or the 26% of the emissions from the all stationary sources in the city.

4 The Maximum Allowable Concentration limits for air and water polluting substances are de fi ned by legislation in Armenia.

24

CHAPTER 3: STATE OF THE ENVIRONMENT

Environmental Knowledge for Change