Towards the 6^th World Water Forum — Cooperative Actions for Water Security

Dear participants of the Conference!
Ladies and Gentlemen!

Let me, on behalf of the large Uzbek water sector's community, welcome the participants and thank the World Water Council for organization of this event.

In the modern context of growing ecological risks and water problems, this Conference and the forthcoming Sixth World Water Forum are extremely relevant and important not only for Uzbekistan but also for all states in Central Asia.

Approaching water deficit raises general concerns all over the world since water is a unique and irreplaceable source of life for every living thing on the Earth. The truth is simple: no water – no life!

Under such conditions, no country has a right to take positions of national egoism since finally this can lead to world-wide disaster. On the contrary, all countries should design and strictly observe the international norms of water equitability and water ethics.

Currently, one fourth of the world's population suffers from water deficit, more than 1 billion of people lack access to clean water and, as forecasted, by 2025, the same quantity of people would live under conditions of “absolute water scarcity”. According to the World Water Council, by 2050, about 2/3 of population on our planet will face freshwater deficit, and, thus, as early as now the mankind must take actions to protect ourselves from these fatal risks.

From our water management practices, we agree with such understanding of water security that is evolved by now in preparation for the Second Water Summit of the Asia-Pacific Water Forum (where our sub-region is a party as well), which is to be held in February 2012 in Thailand – one month before the Sixth World Water Forum. This understanding is stated as follows: societies can enjoy water security when they successfully manage their water resources and services to:

• satisfy household water and sanitation needs at the level of end user;
• support productive economies in agriculture and industry;
• develop vibrant, livable cities and towns;
• restore healthy rivers and ecosystems;
• build resilient communities that can adapt to change.

At present, Central Asia and Uzbekistan in particular already experience acute deficit of water resources. With growing population and intensive development of industry, municipal economy and other sectors, water demands are growing day by day.

The national water sector is a complex body of irrigation and drainage systems serving about 4.3 Mha of irrigated land, including more than 180 thousand km of canals (800 and more large ones), 1588 pump stations (8.2 billion kWh of annual capacity), 55 reservoirs with total capacity of 19.8 billion m³, and more than 4100 wells.

Since independence, the national water sector underwent radical changes in Uzbekistan. There was a shift from administrative-territorial to basin approach in water resources management. This enabled more effective, stable, and equitable distribution of water at all levels.

The key for progress in the water sector is wider application of IWRM, where Uzbekistan is a leader as acknowledged in analytical reviews of the World Bank, ADB and other international organizations. Implementation of IWRM not only contributes to higher efficiency of water governance but helps to adopt modern water-conservation technologies, systems of automated control and monitoring of water distribution, establish water monitoring, and improve water use.

Extensive work on diversification of agricultural production has been started since independence. Instead of water-loving crops, such as cotton, rice, and alfalfa, areas under cereals, cucurbits, and other less water-consuming crops were increased. For instance, in the early nineties in the last century about 50% of irrigated area was occupied by cotton, while the rest was used for food crops. Now the share of cotton in irrigated agriculture is approximately 30%, while the rest of area is under cereals, food crops, and forage that are vital for people. As a result, throughout the republic, water diversions have decreased from 64 to 52 billion m³ a year as compared to the eighties.

Particular attention is paid to improvement of irrigated lands in the Republic. Special Fund for Land Reclamation was established and a State Program for Land Improvement was adopted for 2008-2012.

More than 100 M$ are allocated annually for relevant measures, including construction, re-construction, and rehabilitation of collector-drainage systems. This helped to improve conditions of more than 740 thousand ha of irrigated lands, reduce areas of strongly and medium saline land, and lower water tables. Eventually, this has a positive effect on crop yields and water use per hectare.

In the recent 10 years, with the support of international financial institutions, more than 1 billion dollars were allocated to the water sector for rehabilitation of irrigation and drainage systems, modernization of infrastructure through 20 large investment projects. This has increased performance of irrigation systems, improved conditions of hydraulic structures, and increased controllability and saving of irrigation water.

Uzbekistan is becoming increasingly concerned about growing desires of the upstream countries to pursue a hydropower policy as concerns river regimes – by replacing the required irrigation-environmental regime by the energy one, which is inverted to the nature and human. Unfortunately, this tendency, which leads to artificial floods in winter and increased shortage in summer, increasingly develops, although Toktogul, Nurek, and Kairakkum reservoirs were built at the Soviet Union's expense for multiannual and seasonal flow regulation for irrigation purposes. I particularly stress this – first of all for irrigation purposes.

An illustration of this is the situation of the dry year 2008, when by the beginning of vegetation on the 1st of April water volume in Nurek reservoir was 5.9 billion m³, while by 1st of September at the end of irrigation period the volume was 9.7 billion m³. During the peak of vegetation in 2008, Prearalie faced acute water deficit, and water was not enough even for animals. Meanwhile, merely in June-July, inflow to Nurek reservoir was 7.2 billion m³, and releases were only 5.0 billion m³. The same situation was observed in the dry years 2000 and 2001.

Example of the current year shows that despite the evidence of low-water level, Nurek reservoir has been emptied till the dead storage capacity, while we have ahead the difficult growing season, with natural and artificially created water deficit.

Thus, we observe the situation, where Nurek waterworks facility is operated to the detriment of vegetation flow and irrigated lands in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.

By now, only 2.5 billion m³ of water were left in Kairakkum reservoir. This is 900 Mm³ less than the average annual volume. This complicated water supply to irrigated lands in Tashkent, Syrdarya, and Dzhizak provinces in Uzbekistan and to South Kazakhstan province particularly. It should be underlined that Tajik peasants found themselves in the worse situation since in addition to electricity shortage problems they started to experience water shortage. Much to regret, the guilty is looked for outside rather than inside. Those who are guilty are inside of Tajikistan. Let me cite some confirming evidence – the irrigation and drainage network is in poor conditions and high soil salinization with consequent low crop yields is observed.

We know very well about aggregates of Kairakkum HPP that have low performance and are in poor conditions, embankments and structures show emergency state. Idle discharges of water are increased because of non-optimal regimes. Such regulation of transboundary waters, where reservoirs are emptied to the dead storage – uselessly and harmfully for the region's countries – is unacceptable!

Analysis of operation of Toktogul reservoir shows that until 1990 the mean annual water releases were about 3.1 billion m³ in non-vegetation period and 8.5 billion m³ in vegetation period. Since 2000, winter releases have increased to 8.7 billion m³ on average against 5.3 billion m³ discharged in vegetation period, i.e. the former increased 1.7 times.

In the last year of 2010, given the natural inflow to the reservoir of 16.5 billion m³, water releases were 5.3 billion m³ during the vegetation period or only 32 % of inflow. Despite sufficient volume of water in the Toktogul reservoir – more than 16.5 billion m³ – water releases in June were only 450 Mm³ against inflow to the reservoir of 4.2 billion m³, i.e. only 11% of the inflow. And this is during vegetation period, where acute water deficit is experienced!

At present, the Toktogul reservoir is filled with water as much as 16.4 billion m³. The inflow is about 1000 m³/s. According to our calculations, under such regime idle discharges from reservoir would be probable in late June. How can we consider these actions as wise in terms of water use efficiency? One should note here a risk of overfilling in the Toktogul reservoir! Of particular concerns are the technical conditions of structures that are operated to the limit, without adequate investments.

As a result, the one-sided actions of the upstream countries in the use of transboundary waters disturb region's water balance and create artificial water deficit in summer, thus exacerbating the Aral Sea crisis. A number of elementary questions arise in this respect: on what grounds the natural hydrological regime of transboundary river is changed? Why water used for one's own hand is discharged into the territory of other states without prior agreement? Who will compensate damage from artificial floods in winter and drought in summer?

Evidently the international documents developed and adopted by the world's community can give answers to those and other respective questions. As is well known, the main multilateral universal agreements in area of international water law under umbrella of UN are the 1992 Convention on protection and use of transboundary watercourses and international lakes and the 1997 Convention on non-navigational uses of international watercourses.

Uzbekistan, by joining to these Conventions, has shown their respect and adherence to norms and principles of the international water law since the country sees solution of water issues in them, with consideration of interests of all countries in the region. The Conventions consider the interests of both downstream and upstream that can use water resources within their respective territories on the basis of principles of equitable and wise use, and “do not harm”.

On the 20th September 2010 during the UN Summit on the Millennium Development Goals, the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov stressed that «Any reduction in inflow from AmuDarya and SyrDarya disturbs critically the ecological balance, which is subtle as it is, in the whole vast region. In this context, any attempts to implement projects that were designed 30-40 years ago, as long ago as during the Soviet era, for construction of giant dams in the upper reaches of those rivers, moreover taking into account that seismicity of this zone is 8-9 magnitude, may have an irreversible environmental damage and cause the most hazardous anthropogenic catastrophes that we have been witnessing in the recent years».

The tragic incident at the nuclear power plant “Fukushima” shows that the modern science, despite its latest achievements, has failed yet to guarantee safety of large-scale projects against earthquakes and tsunami. The accident at Sayano-Shushensk Hydropower Plant and the accident at an aluminum plant in the Danube basin, with consequent influx of pollutants into the Black Sea are the visual examples of anthropogenic catastrophes as a result of ill-conceived actions.

It is to underline that Uzbekistan comes out for an independent international expertise to be undertaken regarding planned construction of hydropower schemes in the region. This call is dictated by real threats of environmental, anthropogenic, and economic nature. In this context, the position and concerns of the downstream countries are quite explicable and no way are dictated by “momentary political advantages”. The lack of understanding or even open disregard of those risks and threats demonstrates one-sided policies that are based on hydro-egoism.

The recently held European conference of the International Network of Basin Organizations showed an excellent experience of the European Water Directive, according to which hydropower construction is subjected to both thorough technological expertise and wider public discussions, with consideration of all possible consequences. Serous warning was voiced during Hydro 2010 Congress in Lisbon in September 2010 demonstrating the dismal lesson of the Sayano-Shushensk catastrophe that should stop the hydropower monopolism. Don't you think that Kambarata, Roghun and other large HPP projects pose the same threat, given their location in the seismic area?

Kambarata 1 and 2, as well as Roghun – their construction raises especial concerns in view of their operation related to changes in natural runoff of transboundary rivers, with consequent colossal socio-economic damages.

Climate change has strong impact on water resources in transboundary sources in the Central Asian countries. More frequently we face floods and droughts. However, instead of keeping long-term regulation, for instance, of Toktogul reservoir to mitigate extremes, commercial interests of energy sector led to increased floods in high-water 2003-2005 and to worse droughts in low-water 2008. Such attitude to the interests of downstream countries not only conflicts with the international water law but disagrees with universal principles of respect for human and nature. Construction of new large HPPs creates a new tool of pressure and a cause of new human and anthropogenic disasters.

Uzbekistan always appeals to cooperation and mutual understanding and directs their efforts towards wise and equitable use of water resources in the Aral Sea basin.

I would like to wish the participants success in achievement of established targets – come to agreement about joint solutions in order to ensure regional water security.