Walking on Water

WALKING ON WATER

How water shortage and its rational usage can be solved in Central Asia – looking at examples from Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan

Millions of people in Central Asia experience the negative impacts of poor water allocation on a daily basis, from access to clean drinking water, pollution of rivers, extinction of commercial fish, and shortage of water resources in agriculture. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the countries of the region were not well-equipped to create a common mechanism for the allocation of water resources, which are becoming scarce every year. Tired of these problems and the government's lax response to address these issues, citizens of the Central Asian republics have begun to take matters in their own hands.

A special project was created within the framework of the project "Media for Effective Coverage on the Environment and Natural Resources in Central Asia," funded by the European Union and implemented by Internews. The project aims to enhance regional efforts to improve access to information and communication about the environment and natural resources in Central Asia for citizens and policy makers.

The Promised Water

Access to safe drinking water in Kyrgyzstan is a problem affecting all regions of the country. Despite donor funding and various government efforts in this area, the number of settlements that have zero access to drinking water is continuously increasing. This situation is observed not only in remote villages, but near major cities as well. Many villages do not have even a single drop of safe drinking water. Attempts to investigate a systematic approach to tackle this problem are examined by looking at various case studies of villages in the country. How the problem of access to clean drinking water is being solved in Kyrgyzstan – «Yntymak» report.

Drop by Drop

Following the dissolution of the USSR, there has been a general confusion in how to regulate water flow and its distribution in the Central Asian region. Due to its peculiar geographical location, general depletion of water resources, transboundary problems with water distribution, and problems with irrational use, in recent years Uzbekistan has particularly suffered from water shortage for agriculture. For the country, whose economy depends on agriculture, this is a matter of strategic importance. Introduction of drip irrigation is one of the few effective approaches that may solve this complicated problem. How Uzbekistan is trying to use water rationally in agriculture – «Kommersant.uz» report.