Comparative Research Design - The Politics of Water Institutional Reform in Neopatrimonial States - page 56

This chapter will present data on water resources and water usage. One has to bear in mind
that there is hardly any exact data available due to the deterioration of measurement infrastruc
ture after the breakdown of the Soviet Union and the rise of water users, but also the underes
timation of actual water use by users and the political sensibility of the water quotas (see be
low). In addition, water formation and discharge vary considerable between the years due to
complex climatic factors, so that water availability in a given year may deviate considerably
from the average values. Hence, all ciphers mentioned rather represent benchmarks. 36
Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are the states with the greatest water resources in Central Asia.
Freshwater resources per capita are 10,049 cubic meter in Kyrgyzstan and 13,017 cubic meter
in Tajikistan (in comparison: Germany: 2,169 cubic meter, the global average is 8,354 cubic
meter). The total amount of water resources (surface and groundwater) on the territory of the
Kyrgyz Republic is about 2,460 km³, 71% of which (1,745 km³) are stored in lakes. The biggest
one is the slightly salty Lake Issyk Kul at 1,606 m in the Tian Shan Mountains. About 650 km³
water supplies are frozen in glaciers that occupy 8170 km² (4.2% of the territory). Annual aver
age river runoff is between 44 and 50 km³. Ground water supplies are assessed to measure
about 11 km³ per year (MISI, FES 2003: 6; World Bank 2001: 290f; Sarsembekov et al. 2004:
88f).In Tajikistan, there are more than 25,000 rivers in the country measuring a length of
90,000 km in total. Each year 51 to 64 km³ of water are produced. 37 1,300 lakes store 44 46
km³ of water. The water supply of glaciers (which cover about 5,000 km²) is indicated accord
ing different sources with 460 to 845 km³. They cover 8% of the state territory. 90 percent of
them lie in the Amu Darya basin. Groundwater supplies are estimated to range from 6.65 to
18.2 km³. However, some regions also face water shortage 38 (UNDP 2003: 20f; Pulatov 2004:
82; Valamat Zadeh 2001: 151; Mukhabbatov 1998; Sarsembekov et al. 2004: 91f). As already
mentioned, both countries are mountainous, landlocked regions with arid, continental climate.
The similar geographic conditions and economic parameters resulted in similar water use pat
terns in both countries. Although the agricultural area is limited in the two mountain states,
agriculture is by far the most important water consumer as shown in Table 6.
Table 6: Water use by sector
Country Agriculture Industry Communal water supply Other*

Tajikistan 84% 4,5% 8,5% 3%

Kyrgyzstan 90% 6% 3% 1%

* E.g. energy production, fishery, forestry
Sources: UNDP 2003: 21; MISI, FES 2003: 7.
In addition to being used for irrigation purposes, water is of growing economic importance as
a resource to produce hydropower. This is a mainly non consumptive use of water, though. In
the following section, first the irrigation sectors and then the hydropower branches in both
countries will be briefly described in brief.
75 percent (1.07 Mio ha) of arable land in Kyrgyzstan is irrigated land. The main culti
vated crops are wheat and vegetables, in the south cotton and rice are also grown. By 1990,
631 irrigation systems existed. The economic decline after the collapse of the Soviet Union led
36 For the Kyrgyz Republic, Djayloobaev (2004:70) estimates that actual water consumption is at least 10-20% higher
than according to official statistical data.
37 The different assessments can be explained by (1) annually differing flows and (2) different data from different
sources.
38 These are Istravshan and Gissar in RRS and Kyzyl-Su-Yah-Su in Kulyab (MIWM, UNDP, EC-IFAS 2006: 34).