Absheron Lakes rehabilitation project

The inaugural 2015 European Games were held in June 2015 in a new stadium built on the south-eastern shore of Lake Boyuk Shor in Baku, Azerbaijan. Only one year before this lake was in a very poor environmental and ecological state. The lake water and shorelines had become contaminated as a result of waste dumping, discharge of untreated sewage water and spills of wastewater from the oil industry.

The eastern part of the lake was remediated with the construction of a dam between the north and the south shores of the lake. Witteveen+Bos was responsible for the design of this dam, which was designed to accommodate a six-lane highway. A design and a work plan were prepared for the remediation and beautification of the eastern and southern shorelines. This work plan contained designs and manuals for the removal, processing and containment of contaminated sediments.

Authorities in Baku have contributed to improving the water quality, preventing further contamination, and have also been working on the beautification of the lake and its shorelines following the guidelines presented in our work plan.