Comparison of practices

• Use of water resources
• Use of land resources

Use of water resources

Country: Kazakhstan

Province: South Kazakhstan Region

District: Maktaaral District

Country: Kazakhstan

Province: Karaganda Region

District: Shet District

Other settlement: Aksa-Ayuliye Rural District

• Upstream (Ferghana) and midstream (Syr Darya) of the Syr Darya River
• Ebb occurrence of highly mineralized ground water

The site is located in the area of acute shortage of irrigation and drinking water

Start date: 01.01.1965

End date: 31.12.1975

Start date: 01.01.2015

End date: 31.12.2015

Deterioration of reclamation situation: rising of ground water, land salination

Acute shortage of irrigation water

Technique and technology of land reclamation via a system of vertical drainage wells (VDW)

Measures to restore natural springs: arrangement of stone protection fencing around springs and installation of water-release pipes

Actions:

A VDW system set up. Prior to its installation, the area was drained via a horizontal open-type drain-age network ineffective as to reducing the mass of salinized land.

Comprehensive VDW efforts significantly enhanced drainage.

However, currently due to the absence of a single organization responsible for VDW operation, maintenance and repair, the VDW systems recon-structed under World Bank and Asian Development Bank projects do not perform as effectively as ini-tially.

Results:

Financial and economic:
Increased cotton yields (from 10-15 up to 30-35 dt/ha).

Technical:
Successful response to land salination in 3 districts: ground water table steadily kept at 2-3 m depth leading to a sharp contraction of salinized land area.

Actions
For project purposes, 10 springs were selected still able to exert water to the surface. Project actions included arrangement of stone protection fencing around springs to prevent cattle from trampling the springs. To allow water release, drain pipes were installed in protection stone walls.

Results
Financial and economic:
The economic effect of livestock production and irriga-tion development exceeding 100,000 USD.

Technical
Enhanced (by up to 30-40%) supply of irrigation and drinking water in the area; drafted “Rules of Using General Use Water Facilities for Personal and Domestic Needs Located on the territory of the Rural District”.

Lessons learnt:

In due time, the model proved useful and timely, as the country urgently needed to increase its cotton yields. The practice demonstrated high efficiency of VDW in combatting land salination.

Recommendations:

1. Establish a special VDW System Maintenance and Operation Department;
2. Build personnel capacity:
• Continual training of personnel in the Department and Provincial Hydrogeological and Land Reclamation Expedition;
• Drafting and distribution of training materi-als.

Lessons learnt:
The practice demonstrated the advantages of restoring springs and the need to regularly maintain water bodies

Recommendations:
It is necessary to continue the efforts not only in Kazakhstan, but also across the region. For example, it is possible to rehabilitate multiple springs and water accumulators (like “sardoba” or underground “kyariz”) across all Central Asia.

Domestic tools (outcomes of research by domestic R&D organizations)

Domestic tools (outcomes of research by domestic R&D organizations)

1. Cost of implementation: Moderate

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: SaveH2Okz Project within the framework of the joint EU/UNDP/UNECE Project “Supporting Kazakhstan in its transition to green economy model”

Duration: 2015-2018

Project goal and objectives: raising awareness on the issue of water resources exhaustion with the aim of fostering “green economy” practices

Project beneficiaries: local population

Project implementer: Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Kazakhstan

Reshetkina N.M. et al. “Vertical Drainage”, Moscow: Kolos, 1978. – 319 p.

Joint EU/UNDP/UNECE Project “Supporting Kazakhstan in its transition to green economy model” sponsored by the European Union (saveh2o.kz)

SIC ICWC

SIC ICWC