The Water Resources Service under the Ministry of Agriculture of the Kyrgyz Republic commented on the Caravan.kz article, the author of which, practically in plain text, says that Kyrgyzstan did not treat them like neighbors in terms of providing them with water.
“In mid-June, our neighbors warned us: “Due to low water, we notify the Kazakh side that from August 1, the share of the Republic of Kazakhstan will be 3.54 cubic meters per second. With a consumption of 10 cubic meters, the supply will be exhausted by August 4.” Our ministers were aware that our neighbors would not pour us anything more than agreed upon.
Well, now the “delicious” part. Our colleagues from the newspaper “Vremya” discovered an interesting document authored by the Ministry of Agriculture of Kyrgyzstan “On the progress of irrigation on September 1.” It says: “The water supply plan for irrigation at the end of summer of this year amounted to 5,113.6 million cubic meters. Including 4,593.1 million cubic meters actually supplied for irrigation – 90 percent of the plan. This is 50 million cubic meters more than in 2022 year. To whom? Our farmers or ours? “- says the article of the Kazakh media,” the article writes.
That is, the author points to inconsistencies in the figures, which supposedly prove that there was no shortage of water and that Kyrgyzstan essentially deceived its neighbor.
The Water Resources Service under the Ministry of Agriculture of the Kyrgyz Republic stated that water sharing with the Republic of Kazakhstan is carried out in accordance with water intake schedules, which are developed annually before the start of the growing season and signed by the co-chairs of the Commission of the Kyrgyz Republic and the Republic of Kazakhstan on the use of interstate facilities on the Chu and Talas rivers.
“Along the Chu River
Analysis of the actual water content of the rivers of the Chu River basin as a whole (on the rivers Chu-Kochkorka, Chon-Kemin, Kegety, Alamedin, Ala-Archa, Sokuluk, Ak-Suu, Kara-Balta) showed that the water content of the listed rivers for the period April-June of the current year was 78% of the norm. The lowest water content was observed throughout the month of May – 66% of the norm, especially along the Chon-Kemin river 55%, Alamedin 56%.
In April-May-June, there was a low amount of precipitation compared to previous years.
Due to the lack of water in mountain springs and in order to maximize the satisfaction of water users in irrigation water, water releases from the Orto-Tokoy reservoir began on May 5, 2023 with a flow rate of 70 m3/s and a subsequent increase to 110 m3/s on May 11. Typically, maximum water releases are set at the beginning of June, in the same year – from the second decade of May.
The following factors influenced the intensive release of water from the Orto-Tokoy reservoir:
Low water content of mountain sources;
Low rainfall;
Increasing the area of industrial crops;
Lack of crop rotation;
Irrigation of rainfed lands in the amount of 45.0 thousand hectares (although these areas are not designed to provide irrigation water).
In this regard, the volume of the reservoir was drawn down to 8.7 million m3 as of July 26 of this year. Further processing proceeds depending on the inflow from direct drainage. This situation was observed in the low-water years of 2008, 2014, 2021, when similar measures were taken.
At the end of the growing season of the current year, the available water resources of the Chu River will be used to accumulate the Orto-Tokoy reservoir until the beginning of the growing season in 2024 (in the autumn-winter and spring periods). The volume of the reservoir as of September 29, 2023 is 62.7 million m3, water inflow is 41.7 m3/sec.
During the growing season, water rotations were introduced and water was supplied according to a specific hourly schedule. Water users of the Chui region from time to time held rallies due to water shortages. From the beginning of the irrigation season to the present day, the water management department, depending on the availability of water resources in irrigation sources, has carried out the maximum possible water supply to the regions of the Chui region and the Republic of Kazakhstan.
As of September 29, 2023, p. Chu supplied to the Republic of Kazakhstan – 146.454 million m3 with a schedule of 153.95 million m3 or 95% of the schedule. The main canal, the Georgievsky Main Canal, supplied water in the amount of 115.496 million m3 or 95% of the plan.
Along the Talas River
The actual water content of the Talas River for the month of May 2023 averaged 8.6 m3/sec, while in 2022 this figure was 33.0 m3/sec, that is, compared to last year, the water content of the Talas River basin actually turned out to be 4 times less. If we compare it with the low-water year of 2014, the water content in all sources of the Talas region this year is 2.5 lower than it was in 2014. Therefore, in connection with the low water throughout the Talas region, water rotation schedules were introduced and low-water headquarters were created.
The Kirov reservoir has a design volume of 550.0 million m3.
Water from the Kirov Reservoir began to be released on April 21, 2023 with a reservoir volume of 445.6 million m3 in connection with repair work carried out by Chakan HPP. Water began to be supplied to the Republic of Kazakhstan on April 29 in a volume of 15 m3/sec.
As of June 20, 2023, the actual volume of the Kirov reservoir amounted to 230.88 million m3, while the actual water intake to the Republic of Kazakhstan amounted to 162.35 million m3, the actual water intake to the Kyrgyz Republic Lika – 68.53 million m3.
Water was supplied to the Republic of Kazakhstan from the Kirov reservoir in May and June in accordance with the schedule at 100%. The total water supply plan for the Republic of Kazakhstan from April to September 2023 is 344.7 million m3. In fact, as of August 5, 2023, a cumulative total of 323.3 million m3 was supplied against the plan of 312.7 million m3, that is, implementation is 103%.
At the request of the Kazakh side, on July 17-19 of this year, a meeting was held between representatives of the Kyrgyz Republic and the Republic of Kazakhstan on water allocation issues in the Chu and Talas river basins, and a protocol was signed. At the request of the Kazakh side, water supply to the Republic of Kazakhstan was increased to 45 m3/sec, while the Kyrgyz side informed that with such water supply, the RK limit would be exhausted by the beginning of August. The Kazakh side agreed to these conditions.
Starting from August 5, in accordance with this protocol decision, water is not supplied to Kazakhstan. At the same time, it was agreed that, subject to an increase in inflow into the Kirov Reservoir, water discharge to the Republic of Kazakhstan would be considered.
Today, the water inflow into the reservoir is 12.8 m3/sec. Starting from September 24, water is supplied to the Republic of Kazakhstan in the amount of
As of September 29, 2023, the volume of the Kirov reservoir is 9.3 million m3, which is 1.7 million m3 less than last year.
In 2022, the Republic of Kazakhstan received a total of 592.5 million m3 of water against a plan of 500 million m3 or 119% of the plan,” the Water Resources Service said in a statement.
Source: VB News
