Comparison of practices

Use of water resources

• Use of water resources
• Use of land resources

Country: Kyrgyzstan

Province: Osh Region

District: Kara-Suu District

Country: Uzbekistan

Province: Fergana Region

Akbura River Basin

• Upper streams (Fergana Region) and mid streams (Syr Darya Region) of the Syr Darya River;
• Shallow occurrence of ground water

Start date: 01.01.2007

End date: 31.12.2017

Start date: 01.01.2010

End date: 31.12.2012

Low level of coordination among WUAs – as a rule, each WUA liaises independently with its water management organization (WMO).

Overall poor performance of Reclamation Expeditions (RE) and speed of assessment of the reclamation condition of irrigated land

Methods of integration and social mobilization

GIS-technologies and remote-sensing tools

The AAMC-WUU is an association of legal entities in the form of Union – a voluntary independent non-profit public organization uniting legal entities (i.e. WUAs) based on common interests with the aim of coordinating actions and protecting shared interests and rights.  AAMC-WUU operates as per the Charter approved at the general meeting of water user representatives, has its own stamp and bank account.

Actions:

The creation of AAMC-WUU began with the establishment of the Initiative Group (IG).  The IG consisted of active water specialists, representatives of water users and other stakeholders who saw the need to transit to IWRM.  Further on, the IG carried out social mobilization, drafted necessary documents (the Union’s Charter, etc.), organized the general meeting of water users that approved the Charter and established the Union’s Council (Board).  After that, AAMC-WUU underwent legal registration and officially launched its work.

Results:

• AAMC-WUU established, legally registered and has been operating until present time;
• AAMC-WUU contributed to the following:
  - enhanced stability and uniformity of water supply to WUAs via state WMO;
  - better collection of water supply service fees paid by WUAs to state WMO.
• Representing the interests of water users as a member of the RMC Water Committee, AAMC-WUU also contributed to decreasing conflicts between WUAs and WMO.

Before the introduction of GIS-technologies, REs performed all operations – including production of maps, identification of areas suffering from land salination, level of ground water mineralization, etc. 

 Actions:

1. Enhancing the technical capacity of REs: provision of necessary equipment and tools, licensed GIS software, GPS devices, equipment for chemical analysis, etc.
2. Enhancing personnel capacities:

• Trainings and consultations of the personnel of Basin Irrigation Water Administrations (BIWAs) and REs abroad and in Uzbekistan;
• Consultations by foreign and local GIS experts;
• Development and distribution of training materials.

 Results: 

Financial and economic:

Reduction of the number of drafting technicians, saving on stationery, etc.

Technical:

Increased productivity and quality of works by RE office personnel.

Lessons learnt:

The effectiveness of AAMC-WUU depends on internal and external conditions: capacities (financial, institutional, etc.) of its members (i.e. WUAs) and the level of democracy and market development in a given country.  In turn, the growth of capacities of AAMC-WUU members depends on AAMC-WUU performance.

Recommendation:

Currently, WUAs capacities are rather poor which is reflected in AAMC-WUA own underperformance.  Considering that WUA represent the weakest link in water hierarchy and the role of water users in addressing national food, water and environmental security needs, the government should find opportunities to support (first of all, financially) WUAs/AAMC-WUU during transition period (until they become self-sufficient).

Lessons learnt:

The practice has demonstrated the possibility and efficacy of successful and effective application of GIS-technologies for reclamation as well the overall demand for GIS-technologies and GIS-specialists in other areas (after project completion, the “drain” of GIS-specialists to other industries/organizations started).

Recommendations:

Financial incentives are necessary to keep GIS-specialists in the water sector. It is necessary to scale-up the GIS-practices in other regional REs of Uzbekistan and irrigation-related organizations, including Water User Associations (WUAs).

Foreign tools (transfer of foreign experience)

Foreign tools (transfer of foreign experience)

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: 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.

Project title: Application of GIS-technologies for reclamation.

Project duration: Jan 2010-Dec 2012 (3 years).

Project goal and objectives: comprehensive support of Reclamation Expedition (RE) specialists; introduction of new technologies; enhancing RE technical capacities to ensure a more expedient implementation of projects to improve the reclamation condition of irrigated land with the aim of receiving better yields of agricultural goods with the simultaneous maintenance of environmental equilibrium in the area.

Project beneficiaries: Fergana Region and Syr Daria Region Reclamation Expeditions.

Project implementer: Management Department of the Foundation for Reclamation Improvement of Irrigated Land.

Guidelines on IWRM streamlining, Volume 1 (Institutional Aspects), Tashkent 2011.

"Environmental Digest" Journal, Issue 11, 2012.

SIC ICWC

SIC ICWC