BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 21
By Ilkin Seyfaddini - Trend:
Due to water shortage, Uzbekistan will pump additional water from a Bahri Tochik reservoir in Tajikistan for irrigation of crops in the Syrdarya basin, Trend reports citing the Ministry of Water Management of Uzbekistan.
Uzbekistan will send five additional 500 l/s pumping units, 20 pumps and other equipment to Tajikistan. The cost of repairing the pumping station will also be reimbursed, it said. For this purpose, 1.5 billion soum ($146,315) will be allocated from the reserve fund of the Cabinet of Ministers.
President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev signed a decree approving the concept of water sector development in the country from 2020 through 2030, on July 11, 2020.
The document notes that due to global climate change as well as the growth of population and economic sectors, the growing demand for water increases the deficit of water resources from year to year.
The Ministry of Water Management, through the implementation of the priorities identified in the concept, was tasked to ensure that by 2030, the efficiency of irrigation systems will be increased from 0.63 to 0.73; the area of irrigated land with a low level of water supply will be reduced from 560,000 hectares to 190,000 hectares; saline irrigated land will be reduced by 226,000 hectares; and annual electricity consumption by pumping stations of the Ministry of Water Management will be reduced by 25 percent.
In addition, government of Uzbekistan plans to install Smart Water measuring and control devices at all irrigation system facilities with the introduction of digital technologies in the water accounting process and to bring the total area of land covered by water-saving technologies for crop irrigation to two million hectares, including drip irrigation technologies on 600,000 hectares.
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