Understanding and Quantifying Self-Purification Hadrochemical Capacities and Anthropogenic pressures in Rivers of Armenia

Understanding of the self-purification capacities among rivers is crucial for effective water resources management. However, there are limited investigations on the self-purification capacities for rivers. In Armenia rivers differ in their mountainous and fast-flowing nature, as well as in their hydrochemical content, which results from geochemical features of the terrain. Rivers water in Armenia are mainly of medium mineralization with a calcium-hydrocarbonate-sulfate environment. Also, background concentration of copper in many rivers is higher, which actively participates in hydrochemical self-cleaning processes of rivers. Thus, it is important to have unique method on assessment of the self-purification capacity of the river and investigate the impact of anthropogenic pollution onto the river’s ecosystem. We propose to investigate the hydrochemical capacity for self-purification, as well as identify the nutrient profiles and eutrophication potential of various rivers. Based on these studies, adequate methods for the assessment of the river’s self-purification capacity will be developed, which will help to prevent river ecosystem degradation and restore already destroyed ones.