Comparison of practices

• Use of water resources
• Use of land resources

• Use of water resources
• Use of land resources

Country: Tajikistan

Province: Districts of Republican Subordination

District: Vahdat

Other settlement: town of Vakhdat

Country: Kazakhstan

Province: South Kazakhstan Region

District: Maktaaral District

Located in the Kafirnigan River Basin (river catchment area)

• Upstream (Ferghana) and midstream (Syr Darya) of the Syr Darya River
• Ebb occurrence of highly mineralized ground water

Start date: 01.10.2016

End date: 31.12.2016

Start date: 01.01.1965

End date: 31.12.1975

Poor technical condition, operation and maintenance of the irrigation system

Deterioration of reclamation situation: rising of ground water, land salination

MASSCOTE methodology

Technique and technology of land reclamation via a system of vertical drainage wells (VDW)

Actions:

Mapping of the system and services depending on canals’ purpose.

Results:

Financial and economic:

economically effective, fair and sustainable water resource management.

Ecological:

integrated protection of key environmental elements, including prevention of raising ground water level and secondary soil salination as well as irrigation-induced soil erosion, etc.

Technical:

improved technical characteristics of municipal water supply to different stakeholders.

Social:

enhanced welfare of farm employees due to increased income.

Actions:

A VDW system set up. Prior to its installation, the area was drained via a horizontal open-type drain-age network ineffective as to reducing the mass of salinized land.

Comprehensive VDW efforts significantly enhanced drainage.

However, currently due to the absence of a single organization responsible for VDW operation, maintenance and repair, the VDW systems recon-structed under World Bank and Asian Development Bank projects do not perform as effectively as ini-tially.

Results:

Financial and economic:
Increased cotton yields (from 10-15 up to 30-35 dt/ha).

Technical:
Successful response to land salination in 3 districts: ground water table steadily kept at 2-3 m depth leading to a sharp contraction of salinized land area.

Lessons learnt:

Express assessment based on MASSCOTE methodology allows to improve the planning of upgrading efforts to ensure better servicing of diversified water uses requiring higher supply flexibility and cost reduction.

Recommendations:

It is necessary to widely deploy the MASSCOTE methodology of express assessment of the condition of irrigation systems and enhancing their operation.

Lessons learnt:

In due time, the model proved useful and timely, as the country urgently needed to increase its cotton yields. The practice demonstrated high efficiency of VDW in combatting land salination.

Recommendations:

1. Establish a special VDW System Maintenance and Operation Department;
2. Build personnel capacity:
• Continual training of personnel in the Department and Provincial Hydrogeological and Land Reclamation Expedition;
• Drafting and distribution of training materi-als.

Foreign tools (transfer of foreign experience)

Domestic tools (outcomes of research by domestic R&D organizations)

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: Moderate

2. Approximate cost of investment per 1 ha:

3. O&M costs: High

4. Expert support: Not needed

Project title: Using MASSCOTE methodology for express assessment of the condition of Vakhdat municipal irrigation system.

Project duration: 2016.

Project goal and objectives: designing the irrigation system upgrading and management plan based on MASSCOTE methodology of process diagnostics and assessment of irrigation system performance.

Project beneficiaries: land and water users.

Project implementer: UN FAO.

Reshetkina N.M. et al. “Vertical Drainage”, Moscow: Kolos, 1978. – 319 p.

SIC ICWC

SIC ICWC