The countries of Central Asia have agreed on the volumes of water withdrawal from the Amu Darya and Syr Darya basins for 2023, the Asia-Plus portal reports.
The authorities of Central Asia determined the water withdrawal limit back in November 2022 in Ashgabat during a meeting of the Interstate Coordination Water Commission.
According to this limit, in the period from October 1, 2022 to October 1, 2023, water withdrawal from the Amudarya basin should be 55.4 billion cubic meters of water, of which 15.7 billion cubic meters should fall on the period before the start of growing crops.
The countries of the region agreed that Tajikistan will be able to receive 9.8 billion cubic meters of water from this volume, Uzbekistan - about 23.6 billion, Turkmenistan - 22 billion.
Countries can use 4.2 billion cubic meters of water from the Syr Darya basin. Of these, Tajikistan will receive 365 million cubic meters, Uzbekistan - 3.3 billion, Kazakhstan - 452 million, Kyrgyzstan - 47 million cubic meters.
Last year, countries used 79.1% of the allocated limit from the Amu Darya basin, including Tajikistan actually used 95.3%, Turkmenistan - 83.3%, Uzbekistan - 68.7% of the allocated norm.
From the Syr Darya, the countries used 10.1 billion cubic meters of water with a limit of 11.8 billion cubic meters.
The issue of water use and irrigation in the upcoming agricultural season will be discussed by the relevant departments at the next meeting of the commission in Dushanbe in April 2023.
CentralasianLIGHT.org
January 12, 2023