BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 28. The country's surface water reserves, based on the water balance, amount to 36 billion m³, and in dry years their volume decreases to 22.0 billion m³, the head of the Land Use Control Department of Azerbaijan's Ministry of Agriculture Firidun Tagiyev said at the “Role of Water Management Systems in Climate-Resilient Agriculture” COP29 round table, Trend reports.
He noted that water reserves in Azerbaijan are limited.
“Only 30 percent of the annual water balance is formed on the territory of the country, while 70 percent is formed outside the country. Out of 12 billion m³ of annual water consumption, about 7-8 billion m³ is used for irrigation and agricultural supply, 2 billion m³ - for other purposes (drinking water, production, etc.), and 3-4 billion m³ are losses during transportation. The water supply of 88 percent of irrigated areas is carried out at the expense of surface water sources, only during irrigation of 180,000 ha of land, and for drinking and domestic purposes groundwater is used.
The country has 135 reservoirs with a total volume of 21.5 billion m³. There are 10 reservoirs and 17 main rivers rich in freshwater reserves in the territories liberated from occupation. The average annual water shortage in the republic in normal years is 3.7 billion m³, and in dry years - 4.75 billion m³,” he said.