“We are 150 years behind the world in the water sector,” Pashinyan says

Attitude toward water management requires fundamental change in Armenia, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said at an event marking the 25th anniversary of the Water Committee.

“Water education – our overall attitude toward water – must change significantly. Without changing that attitude, no real progress is possible,” Pashinyan said.

He stressed that change at the sectoral level depends on changes in individual and institutional behavior.

“Nothing can be changed unless you change yourself. An individual must change in order to change something; an official must change in order to change something,” he said, adding that failure to adapt leads to crises.

According to the prime minister, Armenia’s water sector has remained largely unchanged for decades.

“The water sector is one of the areas where we have not changed at all. We have not changed in the past 100 years. That is why we are stagnant, and nothing will save us until we understand the need to change our attitude toward water – from the system of state governance down to the grassroots level,” he said.

Pashinyan also addressed complaints from rural residents about paying for water.

“In villages I am often asked why we must pay for our ancestral water. We are not paying for ancestral water – we pay so that water flows from the mountains to our homes,” he said. He added that while global approaches to water management have evolved, Armenia’s have not.

“That is why we are 150 years behind the world in the water sector,” Pashinyan said.