FROM THE ARAL TO ROGUN: THE WATER SITUATION IN THE AMU DARYA BASIN TODAY
Keywords:
water resources, water relations of the Central Asian countries, water rights, interstate water distribution, the Aral Sea, environmental protection, the Rogun Hydropower Plant, interstate water cooperation.Abstract
Recently, the problems related to water usage in the Central Asia Region have not left the pages of the media and Internet websites. Particular attention is being focused on the most urgent topic— building hydropower stations on the upper reaches of the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers, which are the region’s main water arteries.
This article presents an analysis of the water situation in the Amu Darya Basin, including the reasons for the shrinkage of the Aral Sea. It draws a picture of how water resources form, are distributed, and used in the Amu Darya Basin, and gives probable forecasts of the potential positive and negative consequences of building the Rogun Hydropower Plant, keeping in mind the influence of the current global challenges and threats for the region. It draws attention to the weak regional cooperation and the possible development of negative trends caused by limited integration. The difficulties associated with stable water supply to the region’s countries can only be avoided by establishing cooperation among them.
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References
See: M. Ahmad, M. Wasiq, “Water Resource Development in Northern Afghanistan and Its Implications for the Amu Darya Basin,” World Bank Paper, No. 36, 2004.
See: Agreement on Cooperation in Joint Management of the Use and Protection of Water Resources of Interstate Sources, 18 February, 1992, Almaty, Kazakhstan and The Nukus Declaration of the Central Asian Heads of State, 20 Septem-ber, 1995, Nukus, Uzbekistan.
See: Report of the Commission Sitting on a Data Analysis of the Amu Darya Basin Water Management Organization,17-19 February, 2011, Tashkent.
See: V.A. Dukhovny, A.N. Sorokin, Otsenka vliianiia Rogunskogo vodokhranilishcha na vodny rezhim reki Amudarii (Assessment of the Influence of the Rogun Reservoir on the Water Regime of the Amu Darya River), Scientific Information Center, Interstate Commission for Water Coordination, Tashkent, 2007.
See: Data from the Scientific Information Center of the Interstate Commission for Water Coordination, available at [http://www.icwc-aral.uz/general_ru.htm].
See: Columbia Riverkeeper. Columbia River Facts, available at [http://columbiariverkeeper.org/the-river/facts/].
See: Ch. Cullom,lColorado River Programs Manager, Binational Water Management in the Face of Climate Change and Increasing Demands: Examples from the Colorado River System—United States and Mexico, 8/25/2013 (PPT-Report Presentation).
See: Water Storage in the Era of Climate Change: Addressing the Challenge of Increasing Rainfall Variability, IWMI,2010.
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