A water and electricity crisis is unfolding in Central Asia. The system built during the Soviet era to share resources among the countries of the region has collapsed. As a result, some countries face chronic power outages, while others cannot secure irrigation water.

A Soviet-era apartment building (Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan). Photo: Philip Mowbray / Shutterstock.com

In Central Asia, water resources are precious. The region exhibits one of the world’s highest levels of continentality (a measure of the continental nature of a climate), which means not only that annual temperature fluctuations are large, but also that regional water resources are limited. High temperatures and low humidity lead to high evaporation rates, which is why much of Central Asia has desert or steppe climates.

OpenStreetMap and Koppen-Geiger climate classification were used as the basis

Central Asia is also described as a climate change hot spot, and severe impacts on water supply are expected. The water that supplies most of the region originates upstream in the mountainous areas comprising the Pamir Plateau and the Tien Shan.

In these mountains, glaciers and snowpack store water, which melts seasonally. In summer, water is essential for agricultural irrigation and comes from both glaciers and snow. However, due to the impact of global warming, the period when snow and glaciers form has shortened, while the melt season has lengthened.

Another reason water resources are critical in the region is Central Asia’s economic growth and rapid population increase. Large volumes of water are withdrawn from the Amu Darya and Syr Darya for irrigation, exacerbating the desiccation of the Aral Sea that has continued since the 1960s. Both rivers have long been sources feeding the Aral Sea.

An abandoned ship near the Aral Sea. Photo: Zhanat Kulenov [CC BY-SA 3.0-igo], via Wikimedia Commons

Today, these water resources are one of the reasons for heightened tensions among Central Asian states. Issues surrounding water management were complicated by the Soviet collapse and have become a source of conflict, especially among Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan.

Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, located in the mountains, are rich in water but poor in other natural resources. Most of the water that flows into the Amu Darya and Syr Darya is drawn from within these two countries. Uzbekistan, by contrast, is an agricultural country endowed with oil and natural gas, and ranks sixth in the world in cotton production.

During the Soviet era, these countries cooperated under a unified system determined by the Soviet government to manage water, with an economic division of roles. In winter, the upstream countries stored water in large dams; in spring and summer, they released it to provide irrigation water for downstream Uzbekistan. The dams also generated hydropower. In winter, when river flows declined due to power generation needs, Uzbekistan supplied Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan with electricity produced by thermal power.

OpenStreetMap, Barqi Tojik , CIS Electric Power Council. Electric power of the Kyrgyz Republic , and The Aral Sea disaster were used as the basis

This arrangement benefited all countries. However, after independence from the Soviet Union, each state began to pursue its own interests, and this cooperative system broke down. Instead of cooperation, resource-related disputes emerged.

By the mid-1990s, Uzbekistan began charging market prices for electricity, which Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan could not afford. As a result, the two countries continued releasing water in the cold winters—when electricity is critically important—for hydropower, and stored water in the warmer summers. This left Uzbekistan without enough water for irrigation during summer.

Cotton fields in Uzbekistan. Photo: David Stanley / Flickr　[CC BY 2.0]

Even so, hydropower does not cover the electricity Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan need in winter. During the 2013–2014 winter season, Tajik residents had access to electricity for 5 to 9 hours a day, and in some areas only 30 minutes to an hour. Kyrgyzstan faces similar problems.

To avoid this dilemma, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan plan to expand dam construction on the Vakhsh and Naryn rivers. The Rogun Dam under construction in Tajikistan will be 335 meters high and, when completed, would be the tallest in the world. Kyrgyzstan’s Kambarata-1 Dam is planned to be about 275 meters high.

Toktogul Dam in Kyrgyzstan. Photo: heinerbischkek (http://www.panoramio.com) [Copyrighted free use], via Wikimedia Commons

Uzbekistan is firmly opposed to these plans, because progress on the dams would deprive it of irrigation water. In 2012, former President Islam Karimov warned Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan that building hydropower plants upstream could lead to regional conflict. According to him, it could take up to eight years to fill the new reservoirs, prolonging Uzbekistan’s period of shortage.

The lack of mutual trust and cooperation is exacerbating Central Asia’s water and energy problems. Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan face power cuts in the cold winters, while Uzbekistan lacks irrigation water in summer.

Moreover, poor governance and resource management are worsening both problems. In Tajikistan, inadequate capital investment in the energy sector has negatively affected both generation and consumption. Soviet-era infrastructure has not been properly maintained, nor has it been replaced with new facilities. Power companies’ failure to upgrade infrastructure stems from a lack of funds. The authorities in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan keep electricity tariffs conspicuously low to avoid public discontent.

Furthermore, rampant corruption in these countries also aggravates the energy problem. For example, Tajikistan has exported electricity even during winters plagued by blackouts. A similar situation exists in Uzbekistan. Modernizing the irrigation system in Uzbekistan is also an urgent task; some studies suggest that 50–80% of irrigation water is lost. In fact, only 25–35% of the water supplied to crops is used efficiently. A former senior official of a regional authority in Uzbekistan said the following.

(Farmers) are ordered to grow cotton, but watering the fields and cotton is done using outdated methods. They should irrigate using modern techniques, but the government does not want to spend money. It would be possible to buy machines to pick cotton, but using children and laborers is cheaper. Uzbekistan laments water scarcity, but that is not true. It is a man-made problem.

In sum, all three Central Asian countries bear responsibility for the worsening water crisis. As a result, while authorities shift blame among themselves, residents continue to suffer from shortages of water and electricity.

Writer: Kamil Hamidov

Graphics: Kamil Hamidov

Translation: Ryo Kobayashi