Water Resources Lifeblood of the Region
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Water Resources Lifeblood of the Region 68 Central Asia Atlas of Natural Resources ater has long been the fundamental helped the region flourish; on the other, water, concern of Central Asia’s air, land, and biodiversity have been degraded. peoples. Few parts of the region are naturally water endowed, In this chapter, major river basins, inland seas, Wand it is unevenly distributed geographically. lakes, and reservoirs of Central Asia are presented. This scarcity has caused people to adapt in both The substantial economic and ecological benefits positive and negative ways. Vast power projects they provide are described, along with the threats and irrigation schemes have diverted most of facing them—and consequently the threats the water flow, transforming terrain, ecology, facing the economies and ecology of the country and even climate. On the one hand, powerful themselves—as a result of human activities. electrical grids and rich agricultural areas have The Amu Darya River in Karakalpakstan, Uzbekistan, with a canal (left) taking water to irrigate cotton fields.Upper right: Irrigation lifeline, Dostyk main canal in Makktaaral Rayon in South Kasakhstan Oblast, Kazakhstan. Lower right: The Charyn River in the Balkhash Lake basin, Kazakhstan. Water Resources 69 55°0'E 75°0'E 70 1:10 000 000 Central AsiaAtlas ofNaturalResources Major River Basins in Central Asia 200100 0 200 N Kilometers RUSSIAN FEDERATION 50°0'N Irty sh im 50°0'N Ish ASTANA N ura a b m Lake Zaisan E U r a KAZAKHSTAN l u s y r a S Lake Balkhash PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC Ili OF CHINA Chui Aral Sea National capital 1 International boundary S y r D a r Rivers and canals y a River basins Lake Caspian Sea BISHKEK Issyk-Kul Amu Darya UZBEKISTAN Balkhash-Alakol 40°0'N ryn KYRGYZ Na Ob-Irtysh TASHKENT REPUBLIC Syr Darya 40°0'N Ural 1 Chui-Talas AZERBAIJAN 2 Zarafshan TURKMENISTAN 2 Boundaries are not necessarily authoritative. Am Data sources: u D a IUCN-The World Conservation Union, the International ry TAJIKISTAN a Water Management Institute (IWMI), the Ramsar Convention Bureau, and the World Resources Institute (WRI). ASHGABAT DUSHANBE 2003. Watersheds of the World_CD. http://multimedia.wri.org/watersheds_2003/index.html Karakum C National Hydro-meteorological Service of Tajikistan, anal Map of Main River Basins in Tajikistan, Dushanbe, 2003 zh Institute Kazgiprovodhoz, Map of Main River Basins in nd ia Kazakhstan, Almaty, 2004 P IRAN Updated by GIS-Service Ltd., 2009 Projection: Lambert Conformal Conic AFGHANISTAN Datum: WGS 1984 GIS/Cartography: V. Sibagatulin, GIS-Service Ltd., Kyrgyz Republic, 2009 55°0'E 75°0'E River Basin Facts Amu Darya Syr Darya Lake Balkhash Chui-Talas Ob-Irtysh Ural Zarafshan Central Asian countries Kazakhstan, Kazakhstan, Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, Kazakhstan Kazakhstan Tajikistan, in basin Kyrgyz Republic, Kyrgyz Republic, Kyrgyz Republic Uzbekistan Tajikistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan Uzbekistan Source Pianj and Vakhsh Naryn and Ili, Karatal, Aksu, Chui River, fed Irtysh River (chief Ural River Most upstream rivers, fed largely Karadarya rivers Lepsi, Chui-Sarysu, mainly by glaciers tributary of the weir of the by water from Kapal, Koksu rivers and melting snow; Ob); Tobol and irrigation system melted snow and Talas River, Ishim (tributaries for the Karakul formed by the of the Irtysh River). Oasis, considered confluence of the the “mouth” of the Karakol and Zarafshan River Uchkosha rivers. Recipient Aral Sea Aral Sea Lake Balkhash Desert sink Arctic Ocean Caspian Sea Desert sink Basin area (square 534,739 782,617 512,015 Chui: 62,500, 1,673,470 244,334 12,200 kilometers) Talas: 52,700 Total: 115,200 Share of irrigated 0.4 5.4 1.9 Chui: 3.0, Talas: 3.0, 3 0.9 No data cropland Total: 6.0 (% of basin area) Sources: International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), the Ramsar Convention Bureau, and the World Resources Institute (WRI). 2003. Watersheds of the World. http://multimedia.wri.org/watersheds_2003/index.html United Nations Economic Commission for Europe 2007. Our Waters: Joining Hands Across Borders. www.unece.org/env/water/publications/pub76.htm ADB. 2007. Final Report—RETA 6163: Improved Management of Shared Water Resources in Central Asia. Volume I: Improving Trans-Boundary Water Management on a Pilot Basis (Chui and Talas River Basins). Manila. The Ural River in West Kazakhstan. River Basins significant volumes to water resources, but it also takes salts and pollutants into the rivers, reducing Seven major basins feed the region: the Amu the productivity of natural land areas, rivers, and Darya, Balkhash, Chui and Talas, Ob and Irtysh, reservoirs. Syr Darya, Ural, and Zarafshan. Most water resources come from the Amu Darya and Syr Darya Global climate change has also affected the river rivers, along whose banks farmers have planted for basins throughout Central Asia. Mountain glaciers millennia. are gradually melting and resulting in significant changes in river flows as well as changing the Over the past century, the nature of these rivers has ecology of the basins themselves. changed as a result of increasing human activities. Large dams and reservoirs in upstream parts of Flood damage, both from glacier melt and the Amu Darya and Syr Darya have significantly untimely release of waters from reservoirs for affected downstream flow regimes. Diversion hydropower generation, is a serious transboundary of huge volumes of water for agriculture and problem. Cooperative water management industry further changed the hydrological regimes among the region’s five countries is key to downstream and diminished river deltas. protecting water resources. It must provide for the sustainable, multipurpose use of transboundary Renewable groundwater forms naturally in watercourses for such vital interests as irrigation, catchment areas and by filtration in irrigated urban/communal water supply, hydropower, and lands. The return flow from fields to rivers adds fishing. Water Resources 71 Amu Darya River Basin Facts AMU DARYA RIVER BASIN Basin area (square 534,739 kilometers) The Amu Darya River, called the Oxus in the Average population 39 ancient Greek period, begins in Tajikistan as the density (people per confluence of the Pianj River (which begins in square kilometer) Afghanistan and forms its border with Tajikistan Cities (100,000 9 (Bukhara, Chadzhev, Dushanbe, or more people) Kashi, Mazar-E Sharif, Navoi, for several hundred kilometers) and Vakhsh Nuku, Samarkand, Urgench) River (which begins in the Kyrgyz Republic). The Amu Darya basin—534,700 square kilometers Land Cover and Use Area, % basin area in all—unfolds westward from the mountains of Forest 0.1 the Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan, descending Grassland, savanna, 57.3 and contracting into the Karakum Desert of and shrubland Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan as the river arcs Wetlands 0.0 gradually clockwise to the southern end of the Cropland 22.4 Aral Sea, a total distance of 2,400 kilometers. The Irrigated cropland 7.5 river splits into a delta with numerous arms as it Dryland 77.8 Upper: The Amu Darya River shortly approaches the Aral Sea. But in dry years since before drying out in the Aral Sea in the 1960s, its waters, exhausted from diversion for Urban and 3.7 Moynaq town, former fishing port on the Industrial Aral Sea, now 180 km from the sea. irrigation, do not reach the sea. Lower: Water comes to the desert with Loss of original 98.6 the Karakum Canal; photo taken in the forest cover 1970s. Near the river’s entrance into Turkmenistan, the Soviets built the Karakum Canal, the longest such Economy Agriculture: cotton, wheat, structure in the world, that takes a third of the rice, silkworm breeding, cattle breeding. Industry: hydropower, Amu Darya’s water and sends it to the parched mining and aluminum processing, southwestern parts of Turkmenistan to irrigate chemical industry, light industry. expanding cotton-growing areas. Environmental Issues Heavy disturbance by water management activities in Surkhan Various other transboundary rivers, including the Darya tributary. Sarez Lake is a potential threat to population Pamir, Kafirnigan, Surkhan Darya, and (formerly) living near the middle and lower Zarafshan rivers, flow into the Amu Darya basin. Amu Darya. Mineralization as a result of discharge of collector- All the rivers in the basin influence the system to drainage waters. Soil salinity, some extent. Some of the Pianj River’s water, for decreased soil fertility. Drought. example, is diverted for irrigation. Its catchment Sources: International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), the Ramsar Convention includes the dangerous Sarez Lake, described Bureau, and the World Resources Institute (WRI). 2003. Watersheds of below. On the Vakhsh River in Tajikistan, the the World. http://multimedia.wri.org/watersheds_2003/index.html United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. Our Waters: Joining Hands planned extension of a mining and aluminum Across Borders. 2007. www.unece.org/env/water/publications/ processing plant in Tursunzade could have pub76.htm 72 Central Asia Atlas of Natural Resources 62°0'E 72°0'E Aral Sea BISHKEK UZBEKISTAN 42°0'N Am u d a r y KYRGYZ 42°0'N a KAZAKHSTAN REPUBLIC Urgench TASHKENT Navoi Bukhara Kara lsu da yzy PEOPLE’S ry K Lake Tudakul a REPUBLIC araf shan Samarkand Z OF CHINA nob TURKMENISTAN Yag Lake Dengizkul Ob hingou Lake Karakul dar Kyzyl ya DUSHANBE Turkmenabad TAJIKISTAN i Karshi A S u k h s Lake Sarez h S ASHGABAT e a u r Y u a Kulyab b a d n a Karakumsk g Kurgan-Tyube y Kan i al n r i h Khorog ra f s da a h h a a K h 37°0'N Amudarya V S P y Termez n K 37°0'N d o z w h k c h e F h a rk h a r IRAN AFGHANISTAN K h u n d u z N 62°0'E 72°0'E Amu Darya Basin 1:7 000 000 National capital 10050 0 100 200 Provincial/oblast capital Kilometers Rivers and canals International boundary Hydropower plant < 1 million kilowatts Data sources: IUCN-The World Conservation Union, the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), the Ramsar Convention Bureau, and the 1–3 million kilowatts World Resources Institute (WRI).