Committee for Water Resources Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Kazakhstan UNDP Project National Plan for Integrated Water Resources Management and Water Efficiency in Kazakhstan RepORT AcceSS TO DrinkinG WATer and SaniTATION in THE RepuBLic OF KAZakHSTan January 2006 Foreword Supplying population of the Republic of Kazakhstan with adequate quality drinking water is one of the priority directions of the social-economic development of the country. For Kazakhstan the Millennium Development Goals are the long-term goals, which are closely related to the National Development Strategy “Kazakhstan-2030”. The problem of supply of population with drinking water is reflected in such national documents as the Conception of the Water Economic and Political Sector Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan until 2010, the Strategy for Industrial and Innovation Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan for 2003-2015, as well as the Water Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan carries out a systematic work on water supply and sanitation in the framework of the sectoral Program “Drinking water” and the National Program on Development of Rural Territories. Under these programs the construction and reconstruction of the water supply systems in urban and rural areas is carried out. For the next 10 years of the program implementation 115 billion tenge are planned to be allocated from the republican budget. At the same time the factors inhibitory to stable and successful programme implementation are the following: a high level of deterioration of water supply networks and units, insufficient development and equipment of the water pipes traffic departments, as well as insufficiency in reliable official data on the accessibility of drinking water to population of Kazakhstan. Together with all UN member countries, Kazakhstan signed the declaration on achieving the Millennium Development Goals (2000), thus committing itself in the area of water supply to reduce by half the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water by 2015. Based on the international commitments taken and the main seven priorities defined in the Program “Drinking water”, Committee of Water Resources with the support from UNDP within the framework of the Project “National Integrated Water Resources Management and Water Efficiency Plan for Kazakhstan” has started the development of the Strategy on achieving MDG on water supply and sanitation in the Republic of Kazakhstan. The present report is the first important step in the development of the Strategy. The report contains detailed information on access of population of Kazakhstan to the drinking water and sanitation by region and city. To get more objective information there were two approaches used in the survey on access to drinking water: technical and sociological. Technical survey was conducted in 260 urban and 7440 rural settlements. Sociological survey consisted of 7515 questionnaires, 240 interviews and 16 focus-groups with water users. The survey has been carried out by the leading water supply and sanitation specialists of Kazakhstan and by the specialists of involved organizations. In the current report the independent experts presented their assessment of the water supply and sanitation in Kazakhstan. This assessment includes a description of a methodology, according to which conclusions were made. The report also presents detailed information by cities and rural settlements, which helps the specialists to see a real picture and forecast the development in each specific settlement. The rapid economic growth of Kazakhstan for the first 10 years of political and economic reforms makes possible the successful implementation of the MDG in Kazakhstan. The year 2015 specified in Millennium Declaration as indicative appears to be a good benchmark for evaluating medium results of the on-going implementation of the national strategy “Kazakhstan-2030”. In support of the point the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan during the second Civil Forum on September 19, 2005 stated that “by the beginning of the second decade we should resolve the issue of drinking water accessibility… There will not be a single settlement, which will use water from open water sources or which will not comply the standards”. Anatoliy Dmitrievich RYABTSEV The Chairman of the Committee for Water Resources under the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Kazakhstan Table of Contents 1 Introduction . 5 1 .1 . Millennium Development Goals (MDG) in a Nutshell . 5 1 . MDGs in the Republic of Kazakhstan in the Context in Water Supply and Sanitation . 6 1 . The Structure of the Report . 8 1 .4 . Technical and Social Surveys on Evaluation of the Access Level to Water and Sanitation in the Republic of Kazakhstan . 9 The Current State of Water Supply and Sanitation in Kazakhstan . .1 The Current State of the Urban Water Supply and Sanitation in Kazakhstan by Technical Survey Findings . 4 The Current State of Rural Water Supply and Sanitation in Kazakhstan by Technical Survey Findings . 5 Findings of Social Survey on Evaluation of the Constant Access of the Population of the Republic of Kazakhstan to Drinking Water and Sanitation . .51 5 .1 . Socio-economic and Demographic Data . .51 5 . The Current Situation of Water Supply and Sanitation in Kazakhstan by Findings of Social Survey . .5 5 . .1 The Coverage of Kazakhstan’s Population by Central Water Supply . .5 5 . The Level of Coverage of Kazakhstan’s Population by Decentralized Water Supply Sources . .54 5 . The Sustainability of Water Supply Systems in Kazakhstan . .56 5 . .4 Opinion of Kazakhstan’s Residents on the Quality of Drinking Water . .59 5 . .5 Human Health Issues in Kazakhstan . .6 5 . .6 The Intention and Capacity for Connection to Central Water Supply and Service Fees . .65 5 . .7 Sanitary Conditions in Kazakhstan . .70 5 . .8 Public Participation in Water Resource Management . .7 5 . An Estimation of Safe Access to Drinking Water . .7 6 Canclusions and Recommendations . .75 6 .1 . Urban Water Supply . .75 6 . Rural Water Supply . .77 6 . Social Survey . .78 Footnotes . .79 Reference literature and other materials used . .80 Annex I Access of the Urban Population to Water and Sanitation in Kazakhstan: Results of Technical Survey . .81 Annex II Access to Water and Sanitation in Rural Areas of Kazakhstan: Results of Technical Survey . 15 List of Acronyms RBO River Basin Organization CEECCA Countries of Eastern Europe, Caucasus, and Central-Asian Republics WSF Water and Sewage Facility WHO World Health Organization CWS Central Water Supply GWP Global Water Partnership IWRM Integrated Water Resources Management CWR Committee for Water Resources MA Ministry of Agriculture UN United Nations UTS Urban-type Settlement UNDP United Nations Development Program NSOE National State-Owned Enterprise RK Republic of Kazakhstan CIS Commonwealth of Independent States SNiP Construction Rules and Norms RS Rural Settlement JMP Joint Monitoring Program CSS Central Sewage System FS Feasibility Study MDG Millennium Development Goals WPF Water-pipe pumping facility SPF Sewerage pumping facility RSE Republican state enterprise 4 POVERTY, HUNGER, THE LACK OF CLEAN DRINKING WATER, ILLITERACY, DISEASES, THE SPREAD OF HIV-AIDS, CLIMATE CHANGE… The era of rapid globalization made these issues not only the problems of specific countries, but a challenge for all of humanity. 1INTRODUCTION 1.1. Millennium Development Goals (MDG) in a Nutshell On the threshold of a new millennium, 147 heads of state and government The major goal of the gathered at the UN General Assembly session to develop a combined approach Millennium Declaration is to and strategy to resolve common tasks . Today this summit is the largest forum create favorable conditions in history in terms of the number of participating heads of states . The summit for the liquidation of poverty adopted the Millennium Declaration, which had already been signed by 191 countries, including Kazakhstan . and achieve sustainable development both at Based upon the resolutions of world summits and international conferences national and global levels. of the 1990s, the Millennium Declaration expresses a common vision and the concordance of the international community with an action plan for the new millennium . The Millennium Declaration consists of a set of key development measures that pave the way to a world without poverty and poverty-caused deprivation: Goal 1 – eradicate extreme poverty and hunger; Goal – achieve universal primary education; Goal – promote gender equality and empower women; Goal 4 – reduce child mortality; Goal 5 – improve maternal health; Goal 6 – combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases; Goal 7 – ensure environmental sustainability . This set of goals is known as the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) . It is important that the criteria for performance assessment be set: 11 related tasks to be completed by a specific period of time (015) and 1 indicators . To implement the goals set, there is a need to regularly monitor their performance and assess achievements, trends, and gaps . MDGs have already been adopted by a number of governments and are becoming a part of the national development strategies . In becoming national tasks, MDGs facilitate a large degree of concurrence and better coordination of national efforts . At the global level, the UN Secretary General submits an annual report on MDGs’ international performance . The national reports provide a review of what has been performed by a