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WATER POLITICS

Two reservoirs in western Turkmenistan have fully dried up, according to satellite analysis published by Meteozhurnal, a specialist meteorological outlet. Mammetköl and Delili, small reservoirs in Balkan province fed by the low-water Atrak river, shrank steadily over the past year and had no remaining water by early summer. Meteozhurnal based its findings on time-series imagery and precipitation data from the Etrek station, which recorded near-zero rainfall through 2025. The episode is modest in scale but an alarming signal for a region in deepening hydrological stress. Neighbouring Iran is now confronting severe shortages, with some reservoirs supplying Tehran reportedly near collapse. Turkmenistan faces a longer-term threat as Afghanistan’s Qosh Tepa Canal prepares to divert up to a third of the Amu Darya river’s flow, on which it heavily depends..