Comparison of practices

Use of water resources

• Use of water resources
• Use of land resources

Country: Kyrgyzstan

Country: Kazakhstan

Province: South Kazakhstan Region

District: Maktaaral District

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

Start date: 01.02.2017

End date: 31.12.2017

Start date: 01.01.1965

End date: 31.12.1975

Insufficient level of objectivity while selecting candidates, i.e. selection of final candidates not based on their knowledge and skills but illicitly

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

Technique of knowledge assessment

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

Actions:

The participants were offered to undergo 2 exams (written and oral) within the framework of the Olympiad.  Finalists of the written test could go on to the oral exam.

Results:

1 student was selected from among the candidates to participate in subsequent Regional IWRM Olympiad and the International Summer School “Methods and Means of Assessing, Modelling and Monitoring the Water and Land Resources of Central Asia” to take place in Almaty City.

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.

Formally, this competitive practice is routine while selecting the personnel/specialists for international and national projects, but their unbiased selection is not achieved in all cases. Quite often, various types of project participants are selected by way of “pulling strings” or based on the instruction of upper-tier agencies.

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.

• Domestic tools (outcomes of research by domestic R&D organizations),
• 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: Moderate

2. Approximate cost of investment per 1 ha:

3. O&M costs: High

4. Expert support: Not needed

http://www.water.kg/index.php/ru/itemlist/category/93-seminary-i-treningi 

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

SIC ICWC

SIC ICWC