Kazakh, Uzbek, Tajik governments plan steps to avert water crisis  

On Monday the Kazakh government announced a plan aimed at ensuring the country’s water security amid predictions that climate change will cause a water shortage disaster in Central Asia. 

The plan on developing the national water economy for 2024-30 includes measures to increase available water resources in the country by 3.7 cu.km.  

The area of irrigated farmland is planned to be increased up to 2.2 million ha, while wastage of irrigation water will be reduced by 3 cu.km, according to the government website.  

Kazakhstan also plans in the next two years to “urgently” start building 20 new reservoirs with a combined capacity of 2.4 cu.km. 

At the same time, the government will undertake “large-scale” reconstruction of 15 existing reservoirs (with a combined capacity of 1.9 cu.km) and modernisation of irrigation systems, including their digitisation.  

“We must introduce water-saving technologies at a rate of 150,000 ha of irrigated land annually. At present we are covering 40-50,000 ha a year,” Prime Minister Alikhan Smailov said. 

Separately, on Monday, Tajikistan’s parliament passed a new law on conserving glaciers, which creates a legal framework for measures aimed at protecting and saving them as “strategic sources of water”. 

With 93 percent of Tajikistan’s landscape mountainous, glaciers make up almost 6 percent of the country’s territory – they are a source of 60 percent of Central Asia’s water resources. The experts say that half of Tajikistan’s estimated 13,000 glaciers might disappear by 2050. 

The Tajik parliamentary newspaper Sadoi Mardum said the new law will regulate scientific research and monitoring of the glaciers. It also defines central and local governments’ responsibilities and authority when it comes to protecting the glaciers.  

Meanwhile, last week Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev declared 2024 a year of “water-saving emergency”. 

He ordered “a drive to cement irrigation canals” throughout the country — a total of 1,500km in 2024, and another 2,000km in 2025. 

According to government figures, irrigation systems with natural surfaces on average lose 14bn cu.m of water annually, about 36 percent of all the water used for irrigation. Altogether, the Uzbek economy loses 5bn dollars every year through water wastage. 

Water-saving technologies have been already introduced in 30 percent of Uzbekistan’s 4.3 million ha of irrigated land, which reduces water use by 30-40 percent, the government says. 

The government estimates that by 2030, the country will face a shortage of 7bn cu.m of water, 25 percent of the volume it consumes at present. 

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