ALMATY, Kazakhstan (Asia Water Wire) - More than a decade after the break-up of the former Soviet Union, the basin-states of the Syr Darya face an uphill battle to untangle the water-sharing discord between upstream and downstream countries.

   Experts on water management from  Kazakhstan , Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan --four Syr Darya basin states -- and Turkmenistan met in Almaty in early November to try to find ways to resolve what has become a perennial source of irritation.

   “We face the most contentious of water-sharing problems,” says Amirkhan Kenshimov, deputy chairman of th e Committee of Water Resources at Kazakhstan’s agriculture ministry. “It is about sharing water between the upstream and downstream countries.”

   The Almaty meeting in the former Kazakh capital was organised by the Interstate Commission for Water Coordination (ICWC), along with the Kazakh agriculture ministry and the Global Water Partnership for Caucasus and Central Asia.

   The meeting was also a preparatory forum that will culminate in the 4th World Water Forum to be held in Mexico City in March 2006.

   The Syr Darya basin states hope the forum would lead towards the formation of an international water-power consortium that could help countries with finance-related water-sharing problems to meet their payment obligations. 

   The Syr Darya river flows 2,220 kilometres across Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The five countries use the waters for multiple uses -- from irrigation to hydroelectricity generation –that affect downstream water use. 

   The Syr Darya originates in the Ferghana Valley, in eastern Uzbekistan, where the snow-fed Kyrgyz rivers Naryn and Kara Darya meet. 

   Kyrgyzstan has built a cascade of reservoirs on the Naryn—the largest is the Toktogul reservoir with a capacity of storing 19.5 billion cubic metres—and downstream flows depend on its water use. 

   “In the upstream areas (Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan), (people) are mainly interested in using water for hydroelectric power in winter,” says Kenshimov. “(People) downstream need water for irrigation in summer.” 

   Water storage upstream for power generation in winter means there is less water for irrigation use in downstream countries.

   Kyrgyzstan does not have other sources of energy. Before 1991—when the republics were part of the Soviet Union—Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan provided fuel and electricity to the upstream neighbour in exchange for water used for irrigation.

   After independence, Kyrgyzstan began using the Toktogul reservoir for generating 1,200 megawatts (MW) of electricity. 

   “On average, between six and 8.5 cubic kilometres of water is released from the Toktogul reservoir during winter months and just 4.5 to 6.5 cubic kilometres during the cropping season,” says Kenshimov. 

   The three states of Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan have several agreements to regulate water use. Broadly, Kyrgyzstan is required to assure supply of water and electric power to its downstream neighbours in summer in exchange for gas, coal and electricity from the downstream countries in winter. 

   But implementation has not been straightforward and Kenshimov claims that his country has the suffered in the process.

   He said the agreement requires the outflow from the Toktogul reservoir not to exceed 600 cubic metres per second in winter, which was not the case in 2004 when Kyrgyzstan used 740 cubic metres per second for electricity generation. 

   The increased flow caused the Syr Darya to overflow its banks and flood homes, farms and roads in southern Kazakhstan. The floods early this year caused displacement of over 30,000 people in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan and overall damages were estimated at around 4.6 million U.S. dollars.

   Kenshimov said the Toktogul reservoir holds about 18.5 billion cubic metres of water and there are no guarantees that last year’s flooding would not be repeated—if Kyrgyzstan decides to generate more electricity during winter.

   Since May this year, the Kyrgyz-Uzbek water-sharing arrangement has become entangled in a new political dispute.

   It began when Uzbekistan decided not to supply gas to Kyrgyzstan over a row on the evacuation to Romania of more than 400 Uzbeks who had sought refuge in Kyrgyzstan after the armed uprising in the eastern Uzbek city of Andijan. 

   Uzbekistan wanted Kyrgyzstan to send the refugees back, saying many of them were wanted criminals. International observers feared that the Andijans could be prosecuted and possibly even tortured if sent back. 

   “The Uzbek side has not undertaken its obligations to maintain the water release regimes, and actually walked out of talks, which has aggravated the situation,” Aleksey Zyryanov, deputy chairman of the Centre for the Operation and Maintenance of Facilities of the Kyrgyz Electric Power Plants told Asia Water Wire.

   Without gas from Tashkent, the Uzbek capital, te Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek cannot generate thermoelectric power that would have enabled it to reduce water use for generating hydroelectricity.

   “Appeals to Kyrgyzstan to reduce winter water use are not backed by energy that it needs to generate electricity,” he says. About 90 percent of electricity in Kyrgyzstan is generated by hydroelectric plants. 

   Tashkent has always used gas as a ‘trump card’ to relate with its neighbours, while Kyrgyzstan has control over water flows in the Sya Darya.

   According to Kudaybergen Yerzhan, head of Kazakhstan’s Shardara reservoir, Uzbekistan has shut down water from its Arnasay reservoir in the eastern region, saying it was facing a fresh water shortage.

   He (Yerzhan) adds that when the Kazakhs had asked the Uzbeks to release water into the Arnasay lakes to prevent floods in their territory, Uzbekistan is said to have suggested that Kazakhstan invest money to build a reservoir in Uzbek territory.

   Eventually, Uzbekistan allowed to let Kazakhstan divert water into the Arnasay lakes.

   Says Yerzhan, “Kyrgyzstan imposes expensive electricity on us in summer when we need irrigation water.”

   Tashkent also has its own complaints against its neighbours.

   “The Uzbek economy faces huge annual losses caused by flooding,” Shavkat Khamraev, Uzbekistan’s deputy minister of agriculture and water management told the Almaty meeting. 

   Under an international agreement Kazakhstan’s water allocation is 12.4 cubic kilometres per year. However, on average it has received 14.8 cubic kilometres in the Chardara (Shardara) reservoir (in southern Kazakhstan) for the past 20 years, says Bakhtior Islamov, an Uzbek scientist. (END/AWW/IPSAP/MK/BB/JS/231105)