Comparison of practices

• Use of water resources
• Use of land resources

Use of water resources

Country: Kazakhstan

Province: Jambyl Region

District: Talas District

Other settlement: Village of Sadu Shakirov

Country: Kyrgyzstan

Province: Osh Region

District: Kara-Suu District

Other settlement: WUAs in proximity of the Aravan-Akbura Main Canal

The site is located in the desert foothill plain in South-ern Kazakhstan (internal drain area) at the very end of Sharuashlyk Irrigation Canal.

Akbura River Basin

Shallow groundwater occurrence

Start date: 01.05.2008

End date: 30.04.2009

Start date: 01.01.2003

End date: 31.12.2011

Acute water shortage; land degradation in the village of Sadu Shakirov; abandoned irrigated arable lands used only for year-round cattle grazing.

For a long time, the irrigation canal was not operation-al and, thus, became dilapidated. The situation in the area was aggravated by climate change impacts (de-creased quantity of early spring, summer and winter precipitation, increased average annual temperature, spring and autumn frost bites and summer droughts).

• Uneven distribution of water to consumers (head-end issue),
• Unstable water supply to consumers,
• Significant organizational water losses

Method of autumn and winter water-charging irrigation

Principles of water rotation and public participation

Actions:
1) Reconstruction of the canal, stop-gates and field irrigation networks (rehabilitation of irrigation furrows),
2) Setting up artificial pastures with forage crops

Results:

Financial and economic:
Using water-charging irrigation for rangelands allowed increasing their productivity from 3.5 to 5 dt/ha and receiving 60 tons of herbage for cattle and sheep and goats from non-cultivated land.

Technical:
1) 12 km of the canal and 5 stop-gates to regulate water releases restored,
2) 5 km of irrigation furrows built,
3) Cultivated pastures with forage crops created (soil preparation, alfaalfa planting, coordination of irrigation norms),
4) Fields are prepared during the summer-fall period, and watered during late fall or early spring.

Uniform and fair water distribution among water consumers (WCs) inside WUAs, clear alignment and coordination of water supply schedules via internal WUA networks of all levels with water supply schedules to WUA derivation canals from main canals is ensured by enhancing existing water distribution planning techniques based on water rotation (recirculation) and volumes of technically deliverable water executed via decade planning (within vegetation period decades).

Actions:

In accordance with the approved decade-based water distribution scheduled plan, decade water quantity is supplied to WCs in turns as per their water requests.  The schedules can be quickly adjusted depending on water availability in concerned water bodies.  The technique is based on wide engagement of WCs in distribution procedures – not only WUA personnel but also WCs themselves know who is receiving water, when and how much of it and, thus, can monitor each other and assess each other’s operations.  This promotes better mutual water discipline among WCs.  The process can be controlled from beginning to end based on corresponding documents (decade water distribution schedules, water request from WCs and WUAs, water request registration logs, water accounting logs at WUA headworks and WUA derivation canals.

Results:

As the result of introducing the decade-based water distribution plan in 2009-2011:

• actual water intake decreased, despite the fact that water supply to WCs remained high due to the increased efficiency of water distribution inside WUAs (90% of water availability) and ensured high yields;
• irrigation network efficiency rate rose from 0.69 to 0.79. The volume of water saved due to reduced losses along WUA irrigation lines made 8% of the total actual water intake;
• increased net incomes due to yield growth thanks to better water supply of key agricultural crops;
• drastic drop in the number of disputes and conflicts associated with not only water use but also financial, economic and institutional stability of WUAs;
• instead of mineralized collector and water, WCs located in the end sections of WUA networks started to get water safe for their crops.

Lessons learnt:
Application of water-charging irrigation allowed in-creasing water availability and, as the result, productivity of agricultural crops.

Application of water-charging irrigation demonstrated the efficiency of water use and allowed local popula-tion to go through winter without losing livestock.

Recommendations:
The method can be used in areas/communities where along with crop growing the population is also involved in livestock breeding.

Lessons learnt:

Thanks to proper water use management inside WUAs, water intake in the upper sections of main canals and rivers decreased by 50-80% and, thus, the unproductive discharge to collectors and depressions reduced also.  Reduced water intake in the head sections of main canals and rivers led to the increased influx of high-quality irrigation water in their end sections resulting in better observance of environmental requirements aimed at preserving wild flora and fauna.

Recommendation:

Country-wide scaling-up of the practice of decade-based water distribution planning inside WUAs is necessary and possible.

Traditional tools transferred from generation to generation that proved their efficiency in modern conditions

The practice is the result of streamlining:

• traditional tools transferred from generation to generation which demonstrate their relevance in modern conditions,
• research works

1. Cost of implementation: High

2. Approximate cost of investment per 1 ha:

3. O&M costs: High

4. Expert support: Not needed

1. Cost of implementation: High

2. Approximate cost of investment per 1 ha:

3. O&M costs: High

4. Expert support: Not needed

Project title: Fall and early spring Irrigation of arable land and pastures as an adaptation mechanism of ra-tional water use in Southern Kazakhstan

Duration: May 1, 2008 – April 30, 2009

Project goal and objectives: reduce land degradation due to climate change by way of rational use of irriga-tion water. The project was implemented to prevent loss of cattle due to forage shortage during alternating droughty years.

Project beneficiaries: local population.

Project implementer: Kogal LLC

Project title: Integrated Water Resources Management in the Fergana Valley (IWRM-Fergana).

Project duration: Jan 01, 2001-Dec 31, 2012 (12 years).

Project goal and objectives: overall project goal was “to contribute to safer living, environmental sustainability and wide social harmony, to support rural restructuring in Central Asian countries by enhancing water resources management based on the example of the Ferghana Valley”.

Project beneficiaries: WUAs, farmers in project sites.

Project implementer: IWMI, SIC of the ICWC, Project Steering Committee (PSC) consisting of 3 representatives of the Ministries of Rural and Water Management (MRWM) of project target countries, 3 heads of Regional Water Administrations hosting project target sites.

1) UNDP Compilation “Climate change adaptation: ex-amples from Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan”, Tashkent 2012;
2) pandia.org

• Guidelines on designing and adjusting water distribution plan on WUA level based on daily planning;
• Guidelines on irrigation water distribution on WUA level;
• Handbook on water use monitoring on WUA level.

SIC ICWC

SIC ICWC