Сравнение практик

Use of water resources

Страна: Кыргызстан

Страна: Узбекистан

Область: Хорезмская

Район: Урганчский

Transboundary river

Khorezm Region lies in the northwest of Uzbekistan (between the latitudes of 40N and 42N and longitudes of 60E and 62E). The Region stretches for 280 km from northwest to southeast, and for 80 km – from west to east. The adyr relief is mainly formed by moist-type playa and, to a lesser extent, by meadow and grey-dessert soils; the depressions relief is formed by sands.

Дата начала: 01.04.2012

Дата окончания: 31.10.2016

Дата начала: 01.01.2004

Дата окончания: 31.12.2016

Imperfections of the water management mechanism in the Isfara small transboundary river basin

Inefficient field-level use of irrigation water

The principle of stakeholder engagement in decision-making associated with water management of small transboundary river; IWRM planning technique

Technology of furrow-based counter irrigation

The Aspara River originates in the Western Tien Shan on the territory of Kyrgyzstan and flows northwards crossing the border with Kazakhstan.  The river’s total length exceeds 44 km, and its catchment area amounts to approximately 66 km².  The Aspara River Basin is located in Chu Region in Kyrgyzstan’s northwest and Jambyl Region in Southern Kazakhstan.  The basin is shared by several different ethnicities where they live and work.  The basin’s population is rapidly growing, and the agriculture is developing.  In many places along the course of the river, especially in its lower streams, the water doesn't meet quality and sanitary standards.  Liquid waste produced by the population, industry and livestock production as well as solid waste constitute major sources of environmental pollution.

Project efforts were carried out in Jambyl Region of the Republic of Kazakhstan and Chu Region of the Kyrgyz Republic.

Actions:

Establishment of 2 stakeholder groups, i.e. Small Basin Councils (SBC) – on both Kazakhstan’s and Kyrgyzstan’s sides of the river – representing local authorities, NGOs, water users and local communities.  The SBCs already held 6 joint meetings proving the value of SBCs as platforms to exchange opinions and information as well as take joint decisions on enhancing the overall situation in the basin.

In addition, hydrometric posts were reconstructed and underwent certification, and the automated water distribution and accounting system was installed on the Mailybai Canal. The water supply system in the village of Cholok-Aryk also underwent reconstructed.  A demo-site to demonstrate drip irrigation equipment and technology was established on the premises of Ravshan Farm receiving its irrigation water via the Mailybai Canal.

Results:

Thus, the creation of national Small Basin Councils (SBC) on the Aspara River ensured a platform for exchanging opinions and information as well as joint decision-making to improve the overall situation in the Aspara River Basin, including the development of the IWRM basin-specific plan.

Technology applicability

In the majority of Central Asian countries, irrigated agriculture is based on flooding irrigation (ex.: wheat) and/or furrow-based irrigation (other crops).  Against the background of climate change and global water shortage, the traditional and/or currently practiced irrigation methods have lost their relevance and are no longer justified, in particular, in the Aral Sea area.  In addition, watering the whole field of uneven relief based on traditional furrow-based technique requires long time. In many cases, traditional watering leads to uneven water distribution (alternating dry and bogging spots) across the field and rising ground water level.  The suggested technology of counter irrigation is suitable for watering areas with even/flat relief, i.e. flat/lowland territories of Central Asian countries.

Technology description

The technology is quite simple and consists of simultaneous irrigation of a field from two sides.  It was appraised in Uzbekistan’s northwestern part within the framework of the ZEF/UNESCO Project.  The technology’s pilot application demonstrated that furrow-based counter irrigation can be used as a technical option of irrigating undeviating (even) sites and increases water efficiency due to more uniform water distribution along furrows.  This effective water-conservation technology has been already widely tested in Central Asian countries, including Uzbekistan (Syr Darya and Khorezm Regions) by SANIIRI.

Advantages

• Water-saving – results of the system’s field pilot testing show that compared to traditional furrow-based irrigation counter watering allows saving up to 20% of irrigation water during vegetation season;
• Decreased seasonal land salination at furrow ends – land salination at furrow ends due to poor absorption of irrigation water and high capillarity can be reduced by half;
• Increased yields – application of the method allows increasing crop yields in general by 30-35%, and specifically for cotton – by 0.5 tons/ha;
• Application and design enhancements of furrow-based irrigation (discharge optimizing, washing irrigation, field laser planning) allow increasing the technology’s efficiency from the current 45% up to 65%.

Lessons learnt:

Introduction of IWRM principles is the pre-requisite of stable and fair water supply irrespective of a given water user’s location.

Recommendations:

Currently, when local stakeholders are represented in SBCs and are engaged in joint water management, it is necessary to continue the capacity-building efforts to build-up SBCs’ efficiency.  In the long term, it might be necessary and possible to establish a joint body to manage the whole Aspara River Basin shared by Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.

Lessons learnt:

The furrow-based counter irrigation technology is rather simple (entails simultaneous irrigation of a field from both sides) and represents a justified technical option of irrigating undeviating (even) relief land and increasing water efficiency due to more uniform water distribution along furrows.

Recommendations:

The irrigation technology is recommended for application by farmers prior to controlling ground water level and enhancing land reclamation condition via more radical measures.  Under the condition of available investment, this watering method can be widely introduced on engineered basis.

Foreign tools (transfer of foreign experience)

• Traditional tools transferred from generation to generation that proved their efficiency in modern conditions
• Domestic tools (outcomes of research by domestic R&D organizations)

1. Затраты на внедрение: Высокие

2. Примерная стоимость капиталовложений на 1 га:

3. Затраты на поддержание и эксплуатацию: Высокие

4. Экспертная поддержка: Не требуется

1. Затраты на внедрение: Высокие

2. Примерная стоимость капиталовложений на 1 га:

3. Затраты на поддержание и эксплуатацию: Высокие

4. Экспертная поддержка: Не требуется

Development and implementation of basin plans constitute principal elements of integrated water resources management.  Multi-agency coordination mechanism via basin councils or coordination groups is an important advantage of IWRM.  This approach allows streamlined coordination and synergy of actions on all levels of management hierarchy.

Project title: Stakeholder partnership in joint policy-making: assistance to transboundary cooperation in small watersheds of Central Asia.

Project duration: Apr 2012-Oct 2016

Project goal and objectives: introduction of the integrated water resources management (IWRM) practice in three transboundary watersheds and its scaling-up in Central Asia.

Project beneficiaries: communities of the Aspara small transboundary river basin, specialists of water and environmental agencies, farmers.

Project implementer: USAID/CAREC.

Project beneficiaries: water consumers and WUAs.

 Project implementer: Central Asian Research Institute of Irrigation (SANIIRI)

carecnet.org

1) Reference Book on climatically optimized investment in rural areas of the Aral Sea Basin (based on the examples of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan), Tashkent 2016;

2) Paluashova, G.K., Shirokova, Yu.I. “Efficiency of furrow-based counter irrigation of cotton in Khorezm conditions” (http://www.cawater-info.net/bk /improvement- irrigated-agriculture/files/paluashova-shirokova.pdf);

3) Paluashova, G. (2005), “Investigating land saline regime due to changed irrigation technology in the conditions of Khorezm Oasis.  Materials of “Scientific Support as a Factor of Sustainable Water Sector Development” International Research and Applied Conference (Taraz, Kazakhstan).

SIC ICWC

SIC ICWC