Comparison of practices

Use of water resources

• Use of water resources
• Use of land resources
• Environmental protection

Country: Kyrgyzstan

Province: Osh Region

District: Kara-Suu District

Country: Uzbekistan

Province: Fergana Region

District: Kuva District

Other settlement: Khamroli-Ota Farm

Akbura River Basin

The site is located in the zone of ground water shallow occurrence

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).

Flooding of settlements; salination 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.

In 1980, specialists of NPO SANIIRI (Research and Development Association “Central Asian Research Institute of Irrigation”) designed and for the first time applied this type of drainage in the Qarshi Steppe where it demonstrated its efficiency.  The project was suspended due to lack of funding.  The re-launch of the project and installment of a combined drainage system in Kuva District (2010) once again confirmed its high efficiency and profitability, especially in areas of confined underground waters.  Further on, the model was applied in Rishtan, Altyarik and Baghdad Districts where it is successfully working.

Actions:

1. reconstruction of the open collector;
2. construction of the combined drainage system;
3. operation of the combined drainage system;
4. consultations with local experts on designing and constructing combined drainage systems;
5. holding a training for Basin Irrigation System Administration (BISA) and Reclamation Expedition (RE) personnel on combined drainage system operation;
6. development and distribution of training materials.

Results:

Financial and economic:

Specific construction costs (sum/ha) of the combined drainage system were twice less compared to horizontal drainage models.  Vertical drainage of 1 hectare of land requires 700-800 kWh of energy, whereas the combined drainage is hyperpiestic.  Maintenance costs for combined drainage systems are also much lower compared to horizontal and vertical drainage models – specifically, twofold less than for closed horizontal and threefold less for vertical. The combined drainage systems also allowed increasing crops productivity.

Technical:

The reclamation condition of farm land has improved.

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 confirmed its high efficiency and profitability of combined-type drainage, especially in areas with confined underground water.

Recommendations:

It is necessary to widely apply combined-type drainage where hydro-geological conditions allow it.

Foreign tools (transfer of foreign experience)

R&D product by NPO SANIIRI (Research and Development Association “Central Asian Research Institute of Irrigation”)

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 agricultural yields 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.

Ekologicheski Vestnik (Environmental Digest) Journal,

Issue 11, 2012 (http://lrf.uz/?p=283&lang=ru).

SIC ICWC

SIC ICWC