The Ararat Valley is a 1,300-kilometer swath of fertile land in western Armenia that lies in the shadow of Mount Ararat. The valley is known as the breadbasket of the country. “It feeds about half the population,” says Armen Varosyan, project director of USAID’s Participatory Utilization and Resource Efficiency of Water (PURE Water) project. He explains that a clean and accessible groundwater reservoir fuels the region’s productivity. But, Varosyan says, “There is a problem.” Armenia’s natural groundwater is drying up.
To address groundwater reduction in the Ararat Valley, USAID developed PURE Water, a three-year intervention to promote civic engagement, good governance, and increased transparency of government water management policies and systems. USAID designed the program to raise awareness of water issues at all levels and change behavior from all directions.
Read the full article in Global Waters Stories on Medium.
