Groundwater use in irrigated agriculture in Amudarya River Basin in socio-economic dimensions

Presented during the Third international conference on irrigation and drainage held March 30 - April 2, 2005 in San Diego, California. The theme of the conference was "Water district management and governance."Includes bibliographical references.The paper analyses groundwater resources use in socio-economic context in Amudarya River Basin. The paper discusses present extent of groundwater resources use and special focus is on agriculture, livestock use and small farmers in their homegardens. Institutional and social pattern of groundwater resources use, allocation, monitoring and distribution are other aspects that reviewed. After the collapse of former Soviet Union with its old water resources management mechanism and infrastructure, new underdeveloped systems are being practiced over Amudarya River Basin. Many assessment reports haven't considered Afghanistan in their analysis for water allocation. In Afghanistan, after the end of civil war, irrigated lands are being expanded and the share of groundwater use is increasing too according to the recent reports and assessment projects by international institutions and local scholars. Local farmers use water from boreholes and wells for their water supply systems in order to range livestock and grow crops for sustaining their livelihoods. For example, in Afghanistan karezes (traditional groundwater extraction structure) are widely documented as main extraction methods. Many farmers and settlements use different water extraction mechanisms for withdrawing water. Some drill new boreholes and some renovate old wells. Majority of locals does not have access to machinery pumps and do not have funds for purchasing or renting such pumps for practicing irrigated agriculture. Economic aspects are discussed in broader sense and results are taken from farmers' interviews, personal communication with national hydrogeologists. In general, may farmers claim that it is worth to invest in finding groundwater for producing agricultural products and rearing livestock. Groundwater resources becoming alternative source of supply for irrigated agriculture, livestock ranching worldwide. Amudarya River basin (Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan) countries due to its climatic characteristics, economic development strategies and geopolitical situation have been experiencing everlasting competition over water resources. Mostly arid, agrarian countries pursue their own development and integration into global community through expanding irrigated lands, growing cash crops such as cotton, rice and wheat for meeting their domestic food security.Sponsored by USCID; co-sponsored by Association of California Water Agencies and International Network for Participatory Irrigation Management

Sustainable Irrigated Agricultural Production of Countries in economic Transition: Challenges and Opportunities (A case study of Uzbekistan, Central Asia)

For the fulfillment of the thirsty ambition of self-sufficiency of the Soviets for cotton production, the arid Central Asian region and in particular Uzbekistan has been extensively exploited. In fact, vast tracts of deserts have been converted into irrigated agricultural lands without proper consideration to environment and technical standards. As a result trends in natural resource degradation (soil salinity, desertification, water quality) as well as declining crop yields have dramatically increased. The agricultural sector is the backbone for employment, food security and export revenues of the Central Asian countries. Since the independence of the Central Asian countries (after the breakup of the former Soviet Union) the situation has changed dramatically in terms of institutional, political and technical systems. Political transition, which is defined as a shift from once planned centralized economy to a market-driven one, has introduced 'new' concepts like land tenure, water rights and different kinds of ownership. All of such transformations have impacted the agricultural production in Central Asia. The institutional change can be described as decentralization of the farming systems i.e., transition from the former state collective farms into the smaller forms of private farms. The institutional interventions are aimed to increase agricultural production through improving water management. It is arguable that private production systems are the most effective business driven forces but the situation is quite different in Central Asia due to the irrigated agriculture. The biggest challenge for a sustainable irrigated agricultural production lies in the recent reforms of water management sector in Central Asia and Uzbekistan. The water users associations have been established for replacing the former collective farming systems for irrigation water distribution and maintenance of irrigation infrastructures at on-farm level. The intention of the national government was to shift the operation, maintenance and management of irrigation infrastructures to non government institutions (decentralization). However, these institutions have not fulfilled their promising tasks because of i) a rapid increase of number of private farms along canals; ii) the cropping structure is mosaic with different crop water requirements against the former monoculture; iii) a poor financial, trained and technical capacities of new established institutions; iv) a state ordered agricultural production quota system (for cotton and wheat). This paper analyzes the historical aspects of transformation in the farming production institutions in Central Asia with special focus on Uzbekistan and comprehensively overviews the main current challenges facing the farming system and potential opportunities for reversing the situation

Sedimentation of reservoirs in Uzbekistan: a case study of the Akdarya Reservoir, Zerafshan River Basin

International audienceThe major rivers of Central Asia (Amu Darya, Syr Darya and Zerafshan) are turbid watercourses. Thus many man-made water reservoirs are affected by high sedimentation rates. It is of strategic importance to rationally quantify available water resources in existing reservoirs to ensure a guaranteed water supply to the different water users. Recent drought years and physical deterioration of hydraulic structures urged authorities to re-estimate the water availability in reservoirs of Uzbekistan for the sustainable use of the scarce water resources and safe operation of hydraulic infrastructure. This paper presents the results after the application of a geostatistical approach to assess the water resources availability in the Akdarya reservoir of Uzbekistan. The geostatistical approach creates digital surfaces that represent relatively accurate reservoir bottom conditions and support automated reservoir volumes and surface areas calculations. This in turn significantly reduces time, work load and financial burdens for sedimentation survey projects

Facts and Perspectives of Water Reservoirs in Central Asia: A Special Focus on Uzbekistan

International audienceThe political transformation of the Central Asian region has induced the implosion of the interconnected physical hydraulic infrastructure and its institutional management systems. Land-locked Central Asian countries with their climatic conditions and transboundary water resources have been striving to meet their food security, to increase the agricultural production, to sustain the energy sectors and to protect the environment. The existing water reservoirs are strategic infrastructures for irrigation and hydropower generation. The upstream countries (Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan) favor the reservoirs operation for energy supply while the downstream countries (Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan) push on the irrigation use. This paper overviews the current challenges and perspectives (technical, institutional and legal regulations) of man-made water reservoirs in Central Asia with special focus on Uzbekistan

Geostatistical approach for the assessment of the water reservoir capacity in arid regions: a case study of the Akdarya reservoir, Uzbekistan

International audienceThe paper presents the results of a new geostatistical approach to generate bathymetric surface models from point measurement converted into continuous contour surfaces of reservoir bottoms in Uzbekistan. Sedimentation of reservoirs raises engineering, environmental and economical issues for the communities around the world in areas affected by a strong water deficit. Because of Uzbekistan's arid climatic conditions, and uneven spatial and temporal water resources distribution, responsive and innovative water availability assessment surveys of all major water reservoirs are required. Bathymetric surveying is a traditional method that is carried out for the estimation of reservoir volumes and surface areas of the corresponding reservoir stages in order to assess the water availability. Volume and surface area differences derived from multiple surveys of a reservoir provide storage loss estimates over time due to sedimentation. However, two main factors, such as intensive field data measurement and post data-processing, often limit the frequency of these surveys. Alternatively, innovative depth measurement technologies coupled with contouring and surface mapping programs provide automated reservoir volume and surface area calculations. This significantly reduces time, workload and financial burdens for reservoir sedimentation projects. This research proposes the use of geostatistical approach to assess the reservoir sedimentation in the Akdarya reservoir of Uzbekistan. The geostatistical approach includes (semi-) variogram analysis and interpolation (kriging and simulations--turning bands) techniques predicting values at unsampled locations for generating digital bathymetric surface models of reservoir bottom conditions in order to calculate the volume and surface area at a given water elevation. The simulation enables to have range of reservoir volumes and surface areas with the same probability, in comparison to the kriging and traditional methods. This gives a real estimation of the resource availability for water operators to manage natural resources and hydraulic infrastructure in a sustainable manner

Water reservoirs, irrigation and sedimentation in Central Asia: a first-cut assessment for Uzbekistan

International audienceWater reservoirs play an important role in areas with limited and erratic precipitation where water is stored and re-distributed later for different purposes. Irrigation is primarily a major water consumer in arid countries of Central Asia for the economic development, employment and food security of the region. The major rivers of Central Asia (e.g., Amu Darya, Syr Darya, and Zerafshan) are turbid watercourses. Sedimentation reduces the main reservoir asset i.e., its volume capacity. In addition, vast territories of the region's countries have been transformed for agriculture to grow water intensive crops such as cotton, rice and wheat during the Soviet Union that dramatically accelerated soil erosion by water and wind. Thus, many man-made water reservoirs are affected by high sedimentation rates. Moreover, uneven spatial and temporal water resources and a Soviet-inherited unified hydraulic infrastructure have raised transboundary reservoir management issues over water resources allocation among the countries in the region such as Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. The rivers such as Syr Darya and Amu Darya are already regulated by more than 78 and 94 %, respectively and attempts for new reservoir projects upstream raises increased concerns of the downstream countries (e.g., the Rogun hydropower station in Tajikistan and the Toktogul reservoir in Kyrgyzstan). For instance, the uncoordinated use of reservoirs has caused the Arnasai lake problem in Uzbekistan with environmental, material damage and social unrest. The aim of this paper is first to review the present conditions and the role of man-made water reservoirs for irrigation in Central Asia with special focus on Uzbekistan, second to document past and current reservoir sedimentation conditions in Uzbekistan and third to discuss research carried out by Soviet and present-time local research community in the domain of erosion and sedimentation in the region

Improvement of operational methods for the assessment of the water reservoir useful storage capacity using geoinformation systems : case study of the Akdarya Reservoir, Samarqand Province, Uzbekistan

Cette étude porte sur l’utilisation des outils de la géostatistique pour évaluer l’importance des phénomènes de sédimentation dans le barrage Akdarya en Ouzbékistan. Les analyses de variogrammes et les techniques d’interpolation par krigeage ont permis de générer des données dans les zones non échantillonnées du barrage. A l’aide des données de terrain complétées par les données produites par les outils géostatistiques, de nouvelles cartes bathymétriques du barrage ont été générées et ont permis de calculer de façon précise l’évolution du volume d’eau stocké en fonction du taux de sédimentation.Sedimentation processes in man-made water reservoirs reduce their main asset: the volume storage capacity. This raises engineering, environmental and economic issues for the communities around the world and in particular for the areas affected by strong water deficit. Because of Uzbekistan’s arid climatic conditions and uneven spatial and temporal water resources distribution, responsive and innovative water availability assessment surveys of all major water reservoirs are required. Bathymetric survey is a traditional method that is carried out for the estimation of reservoir volumes and surface areas for the corresponding reservoir stages in order to assess the water availability. Volume and surface area differences derived from multiple surveys of a reservoir provide storage loss estimates over time due to sedimentation. However, two main factors such as intensive field data measurement and post data-processing often limit the frequency of these surveys. Alternatively, innovative depth measurement technologies coupled with contouring and surface mapping programs provide automated reservoir volume and surface area calculations. This significantly reduces time, work load and financial burdens for reservoir sedimentation projects. This study deals with the use of a geostatistical approach to assess the reservoir sedimentation in the Akdarya reservoir in Uzbekistan. Geostatistical approach includes (semi-) variogram analysis and interpolation (kriging and simulations (turning bands)) techniques predicting values at unsampled locations for generating digital bathymetric surface models of reservoir bottom conditions in order to calculate volume and surface area at given water elevation. Simulation enables to have range of reservoir volumes and surface areas with the same probability in comparison to the kriging and traditional methods. This gives a real estimation of the water resource availability for operators and managers to sustainably manage natural resources and hydraulic infrastructure

Improvement of operational methods for the assessment of the water reservoir useful storage capacity using geoinformation systems : case study of the Akdarya Reservoir, Samarqand Province, Uzbekistan

Cette étude porte sur l’utilisation des outils de la géostatistique pour évaluer l’importance des phénomènes de sédimentation dans le barrage Akdarya en Ouzbékistan. Les analyses de variogrammes et les techniques d’interpolation par krigeage ont permis de générer des données dans les zones non échantillonnées du barrage. A l’aide des données de terrain complétées par les données produites par les outils géostatistiques, de nouvelles cartes bathymétriques du barrage ont été générées et ont permis de calculer de façon précise l’évolution du volume d’eau stocké en fonction du taux de sédimentation.Sedimentation processes in man-made water reservoirs reduce their main asset: the volume storage capacity. This raises engineering, environmental and economic issues for the communities around the world and in particular for the areas affected by strong water deficit. Because of Uzbekistan’s arid climatic conditions and uneven spatial and temporal water resources distribution, responsive and innovative water availability assessment surveys of all major water reservoirs are required. Bathymetric survey is a traditional method that is carried out for the estimation of reservoir volumes and surface areas for the corresponding reservoir stages in order to assess the water availability. Volume and surface area differences derived from multiple surveys of a reservoir provide storage loss estimates over time due to sedimentation. However, two main factors such as intensive field data measurement and post data-processing often limit the frequency of these surveys. Alternatively, innovative depth measurement technologies coupled with contouring and surface mapping programs provide automated reservoir volume and surface area calculations. This significantly reduces time, work load and financial burdens for reservoir sedimentation projects. This study deals with the use of a geostatistical approach to assess the reservoir sedimentation in the Akdarya reservoir in Uzbekistan. Geostatistical approach includes (semi-) variogram analysis and interpolation (kriging and simulations (turning bands)) techniques predicting values at unsampled locations for generating digital bathymetric surface models of reservoir bottom conditions in order to calculate volume and surface area at given water elevation. Simulation enables to have range of reservoir volumes and surface areas with the same probability in comparison to the kriging and traditional methods. This gives a real estimation of the water resource availability for operators and managers to sustainably manage natural resources and hydraulic infrastructure

Stratification of the Population of Uzbekistan in the Late Xx - Early Xxi Centuries

By the end of XX century to researchers – social scientists have accumulated a wealth of methodological tools and terminological apparatus for characterizing the processes of stratification in modern societies. However, with regard to Uzbekistan studies of this kind are in the initial stage . This is due to a number of factors relating to, first, the terms of humanitarian development, including historical and social science, and secondly, the complexity of the problems of the modern guest transit period

Stratification of the Population of Uzbekistan in the Late Xx - Early Xxi Centuries

By the end of XX century to researchers – social scientists have accumulated a wealth of methodological tools and terminological apparatus for characterizing the processes of stratification in modern societies. However, with regard to Uzbekistan studies of this kind are in the initial stage . This is due to a number of factors relating to, first, the terms of humanitarian development, including historical and social science, and secondly, the complexity of the problems of the modern guest transit period