Akhurian Reservoir

Akhurian Reservoir holds back the Akhurian River right on the Armenia-Turkey border, in Shirak. It runs about 20 km long, holds roughly 525 million cubic meters of water, and covers 54 km² of surface — sizable by Caucasus standards, though smaller than Azerbaijan's Mingachevir and Shamkir reservoirs. It went into operation in 1980, built under a Soviet-Turkish agreement, and irrigates farmland on both sides of the border across an estimated 104,000 hectares.

An environmental study by the group Geofon, cited by its head Levon Martirosyan, found the water heavily contaminated with heavy metals and toxic substances.

The reservoir lies in Shirak region, on the Armenia-Turkey border, about 84 km west-northwest of Yerevan as the crow flies.