Comparison of practices

Use of water resources

Use of water resources

Country: Kyrgyzstan

Province: Osh Region

District: Kara-Suu District

Country: Kazakhstan

Province: South Kazakhstan Region

District: Maktaaral District

Akbura River Basin

The hydro-posts are located in foothill and/or flat areas with the water stream speeds in canals fluctuating between 0.1 and 1.5 m/s

Start date: 01.01.2007

End date: 31.12.2017

Start date: 01.01.2015

End date: 31.12.2017

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

• Inefficient management of water resources;
• Inefficient planning of water distribution

Methods of integration and social mobilization

DUV 2/0.005-10 Water Level Sensor

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.

The DUV 2/0,005-10 Sensor was deployed and demonstrated its efficiency in Jambyl and Southern Kazakhstan Regions.  It allowed to visually and in real-time observe the dynamics of water level fluctuations and completely exclude manual operations and subjectivity in the process of taking readings – a relevant task in the environment of transition to market economy.

Water level sensors were installed in 17 hydro-posts in Southern Kazakhstan Region (Maktaaral District).  In Jambyl Region, the same sensors were installed in 3 hydro-posts in Merke District.

Results:

Technical:

a) immediate data exchange on water volume passing through every water lead to the fields of agricultural producers (farms) as well as automatic transfer of this information to stakeholder organizations (branch of “Kazvodkhoz” Republican State Enterprise (RSE), etc.);

b) archiving the data coming from hydro-posts with its subsequent processing in the form of reports.

Technical and economic:

1) “all in one” – all components of DUV 2/0.005-10 are assembled into one unit/casing, do not require any additional modules and adjustments, i.e. it is an out-of-the-box universal tool to execute monitoring of water reserves irrespective of the availability of power supply and other technical and weather conditions.  The simple Sensor’s design facilitates installation and start-up and commissioning, as well as allows minimizing labor costs;

2) DUV 2/0.005-10 is flexible in terms of installation, data transfer methods, measurement subject (water level or hydro-lock position, etc.);

3) the cost of the measuring unit is 3-4 times less compared to currently available alternatives;

4) DUV 2/0.005-10 designed architecture allows increasing the number of controlled points and performing an integrated monitoring of the whole network.

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:

Deployment of the DUV 2/0.005-10 Water Level Sensor led to increased precision of water level and consumption measurements and higher promptness of information collection compared to any known methods.

Using the device in the conditions of water resources deficiency, on the one hand, will ensure objective accounting of water use and, on the other hand, will promote water conservation among water users which will lead to more efficient technological development of agro-industrial complex and higher labor productivity.

Recommendations:

The success of deploying water level sensors in project hydro-posts facilitated execution of measures to disseminate the positive experience of using the device in the water sector.  Their effect will be even more significant as enhanced quantity and quality indicators will ensure effective management of water resources and water conservation with simultaneous development of irrigated agriculture.

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: 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.

1. Project title: Implementation, scientific and methodical support and dissemination of automatic water-monitoring and water-accounting instruments in water measuring facilities of the pilot site in Jambyl Region.

Project goal: implement the innovation in the agro-industrial complex of Jambyl Region by way of installing water level sensors (DUV 0.005-10 Model, designed by KazSRIWE LLP) in hydro-posts along the Merkenka River and its diversion canals: Chon, Tesken, MPT of Merke District of Jambyl Region.

2. Project title: Implementation, scientific and methodical support and dissemination of automatic water-monitoring and water-accounting instruments in water measuring facilities of the pilot site in Southern Kazakhstan Region.

Project goal: implement the innovation in the agro-industrial complex of Southern Kazakhstan Region by way of installing water level sensors (DUV 0.005-10 Model, designed by KazSRIWE LLP) in hydro-posts along the diversion canals of Dostyk Main Canal in Maktaaral District of Southern Kazakhstan Region.

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

1. Implementation, scientific and methodical support and dissemination of automatic water-monitoring and water-accounting instruments in water measuring facilities of the pilot site in Jambyl Region: R&D Report (final)/ Kazakh Scientific Research Institute of Water Economy, supervised by Karlykhanov, O. K., executed by Li, M.A., Bakbergenov, N.N., Zhakashov, A.M., Imanaliyev, T. K., Ponkratiev, D.M., Taraz 2017, p. 108;
2. Implementation, scientific and methodical support and dissemination of automatic water-monitoring and water-accounting instruments in water measuring facilities of the pilot site in Southern Kazakhstan Region: R&D Report (final)/ Kazakh Scientific Research Institute of Water Economy, supervised by Karlykhanov, O. K., executed by Li, M.A., Bakbergenov, N.N., Zhakashov, A.M., Imanaliyev, T. K., and Ponkratiev, D.M., Taraz 2017, p. 80.

SIC ICWC

Li Marina 

Scientific Research Institute of Water Economy

+7(705)5774464

E-mail: limarina76@mail.ru