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WATER POLITICS

Via Ooska News, a look at how a thirsty China and Uzbekistan could lead to a crisis in Kazakhstan:

Growing demand for water in China and Uzbekistan could lead to a water supply crisis in Kazakhstan, according to Ainur Kuatova, an adviser to the Environmental Protection Minister.

Water inflows to the country are decreasing by 2 to 3 percent every year, a trend that is expected to continue to 2030, she said.

“Currently, China and Uzbekistan are the main suppliers of water resources to our country, and we expect that demand for water in these countries will sharply grow by 2030, which will increase the risk of insufficient water supply to Kazakhstan, ” she told the ministry’s board meeting.

Lake Balkhash, the second largest lake in Central Asia,is also threatened by the decrease in water flows.

“The expert group McKinsey has attempted to design the fate of the unique Kazakh natural reservoir, Lake Balkhash: according to the data of the UN Environment Program, the scenarios of the accelerated development of China and Kazakhstan allow us to project that Lake Balkhash could lose up to 86 percent of its water reserves by 2045, which will cause an unprecedented environmental catastrophe in Kazakhstan,” Kuatova said.

Demand for water in China is expected to increase from the current 555 billion cubic meters per year to 818 billion cubic meters per year by 2030, according to experts. This could lead to a significant decrease in the water level in the Ili River, which supplies almost 80 percent of the water flow to Lake Balkhash, Kuatova explained.

“These negative forecasts demand that new, more effective mechanisms of decision-making be adopted to guarantee water security at the interstate level, with the involvement of leading Kazakh and international experts,” she said.

Nearly half of Kazakhstan’s water resources come from other countries, including China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Its renewable water resources are at 6,000 cubic meters per capita per year while freshwater withdrawal is 2,360 cubic meters per capita per year, according to US Central Intelligence Agency statistics.

Last year, Environmental Protection Minister Nurlan Kapparov told the Kazakh parliament that the country already had a water deficit of more than 20 percent, which threatens water supply to the population, industry and agriculture.