Residents of the Nor Haykadjour community in Artsakh have been forced to drink water earmarked for irrigation for the past three years.

But that will soon change thanks to a 50,000 ton water tank that has been obtained with the financial assistance of a Nor Haykadjour native that now resides in Russia.

Nor Haykadjour Mayor Roudik Damielyan says it will be more than enough to meet the potable daily water needs of the 35 household community.

Danielyan says that construction on the new system will be completed by October the latest.

Inna Yeremyan, who runs the village’s only store, says that bottles water and fruit juices are her biggest sellers.

The village, in Artsakh’s Martakert region, was supposed to be supplied with drinking water from an artesian well sunk in the neighboring village of Nor Karmiravan.

The well was launched in 2013 and immediately was beset with technical problems. After the issues were resolved water started to flow through the supply pipe for a few hours and then cut off completely once again.

Aran Sargsyan, principal of the village school has to carrying buckets of water to work for the 30 pupils to drink.

‘The children drink clean water at school and irrigation water at home. This is probably the reason why they sometimes come down with intestinal ailments,” says Sargsyan.