Water resources Pressure

A gricultural activity is a sector consuming the main volume of water resources (for agricultural needs up to 90% of the consumed water is used).

Since the 60s irrigated territories in the region have been increased 2 times - to 7.5-7.7 million hectares, the population of the region increased 7 times exceeding 50 million people. Due to this fact growth of water consumption led to stop flow of the two main river systems of the AmuDarya and SyrDarya into the Aral Sea. Water deficit in watering period became considerable even in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, which have many water resources. Poor use of modern agro-technology, unsatisfactory technical conditions of irrigation and water distribution systems, wear out of the equipment, lack of water saving technologies led to water quality deterioration, salinisation of irrigated territories, swift development of desertification.

Dynamics of water resources use in CAR (million mі)

Years	Sources	Farming drinking	Agricultural water supply	Industrial technical	Fishery	Irrigation	Others	Total
Kazakhstan	Total	140	130	180	150	10100	600	11300
	from surface (transboundary)	0	20	0	100	7960	185	8265
	from surface (local)	0	10	60	50	2040	100	2260
	from ground	140	100	120	0	0	15	375
	re use of CDW	0	0	0	0	100	300	400
Kyrgyzstan	Total	91	85	56	5	4730	0	4966
	from surface (transboundary)	0	0	0	0	350	0	350
	from surface (local)	48	20	6	5	4120	0	4199
	from ground	43	65	50	0	176	0	334
	re use of CDW	0	0	0	0	84	0	84
Tajikistan	Total	475	585	449	140	10400	40	12089
	from surface (transboundary)	0	102	150	30	9198	20	9500
	from surface (local)	175	333	199	110	232	0	1049
	from ground	300	150	100	0	600	20	1170
	re use of CDW	0	0	0	0	370	0	370
Turkmenistan	Всего	330	70	325	35	22470	0	23230
	from surface (transboundary)	145	40	289	35	22274	0	22783
	from surface (local)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	from ground	185	30	36	0	151	0	402
	re use of CDW	0	0	0	0	45	0	45
Uzbekistan	Total	2030	1090	1200	880	49020	0	54220
	from surface (transboundary)	0	0	450	350	35040	0	36240
	from surface (local)	0	0	0	530	7280	0	7810
	from ground	2030	1090	750	0	2600	0	6370
	re use of CDW	0	0	0	0	3800	0	3800

Total water intake in the region on the average is 137.46 kmі

A number of natural and human factors influence water quality. Among natural factors one can point out formation of suspended particles, especially in mountainous regions, after heavy rain or intensive melt of snow and ice, and water mineralisation depending on soil kind of river beds. To the human factors: discharge of pollutants in water reservoirs.

The water use efficiency in the Aral Sea Basin is 62 percent. This figure includes the effect of re-use, which may have resulted in some "hidden double counting."

Estimated average salinity of the water balance components in the irrigated areas in the Aral Sea Basin, based on average flow data (1985-1990)

Balance item	Average	Up	Middle	Down	Amu Darya	Syr Darya
Small rivers (g/mі)	475	431	547	500	449	506
River(g/mі)	836	594	752	1032	716	1053
Used drainage water (g/mі)	1927	1645	1980	-	1998	1053
Internal use (g/mі)	3131	2220	3493	3099	3501	2799
Total water supply (g/mі)	710	483	717	989	647	807
Drainage(g/mі)	3169	2055	4157	3038	3563	2692
Disposal to Aral Sea (g/mі)	1142	-	-	1142	976	1650
Drain/irrigation salinity ratio	446	425	580	307	551	334

In the SyrDarya basin, the average salinity of the river water is about 50 percent. This is about 20 percent higher then in the AmuDarya basin. Therefore the conditions for irrigated agriculture in the SyrDarya basin, especially in the lower reaches, are less favourable than those in the AmuDarya basin, especially in the upper and middle reaches. This is because more return flow of effluent occurs in the SyrDarya basin than in the AmuDarya basin, where comparatively more saline effluent is evacuated to evaporation ponds. The salinity of the drainage effluent is about 30 percent higher in the AmuDarya basin than in the SyrDarya basin. This could indicate a higher irrigation and leaching efficiency in the SyrDarya basin, and more salt mobilisation by the subsurface drainage system in the AmuDarya basin. The highest salt mobilisation is in the middle reaches of the AmuDarya basin. During last years many industrial enterprises stopped functioning, that's why industrial sewage into reservoirs is reduced considerably. However, wear out of canalisation and refining stations, practically complete lack of reconstruction or construction of new ones aggravate water quality deterioration of surface reservoirs. Volume of pollution coming into water from atmosphere, residual chemicals, pouring from irrigated fields, uncontrolled growth of farms on the banks of the rivers, dung sewage wash off, pollution from gardening co-operatives, located on the banks of the rivers lead to slow degradation of surface water quality.

References: Proposals on national water strategy in the Republic of Uzbekistan. The project of the World Bank. 1995. Republic of Uzbekistan: National action plan on environment. Project of the World Bank, Switzerland, Uzbekistan. Tashkent. 1998 National strategy of sustainable development of the Republic of Uzbekistan. UNDP, Uzbekistan. Tashkent, 1999 Antonov V.N. Water resources of Uzbekistan, their use in modern conditions and in the future. Collection of scientific articles: Water resources, the Aral problem and environment. Tashkent, "University"", 2000 Water related vision for the Aral sea basin for the year 2025, UNESCO,2000.,237p

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