Catalog

Uzbekistan’s Water Woes

With rural families thirsty and out of work in drought-stricken Karakalpakstan and Khorezm, ADB and the Government are working to improve their water supply—and their lives

By Christina Duenas( cduenas@adb.org )
ADB Consultant

Amy Leung is an Urban Development Specialist in the Social Sectors Division, East and Central Asia Department of ADB. She has worked on several water projects, including in Uzbekistan and the People’s Republic of China. Ms. Leung is handling ADB’s first rural water supply intervention in Uzbekistan, the Western Uzbekistan Rural Water Supply Project.

Who are the main beneficiaries of the Project?

The project concentrates on the rural poor. Many are farmers who have lost their crops or livestock because of the drought. The results of the drought are dismal—surface water is drying up, and there’s a constant need to find another water source because the old one is gone.

Most people don’t get enough water since the bulk goes to irrigation first. In fact, in the scheme of things, healthy people probably have the last priority when it comes to getting water, with irrigation coming first, and sick people a poor second.

How involved in the project are communities?

Increasingly so as the project progresses. Uzbekistan has rural assemblies that serve as the social structure for distributing benefits to the people. The members of the rural assemblies understand and can convey the needs of the communities, so we tried to tap into that knowledge when designing the Project.

With the project just starting, the communities themselves haven’t had much chance for deeper involvement. But they welcome the idea, and we intend to pursue this collaboration further.

How does the Project support ADB’s water policy?

Obviously, the Project’s thrust relates to the policy element on improving and expanding the delivery of water services. Beyond that, however, the Project also supports ADB’s water policy in different ways.

Integrated water resources management is important to the Project not only because the very limited water resources available have many competing uses, among them irrigation and domestic supply, but also because responsibility for management is shared among various agencies.

We have the Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources, the Ministry of Economy, the Uzbekistan Communal Services Agency, vodokanals and agrovodokanals (urban and rural water sewerage agencies), and others.

Coordination is a key issue. So, too, is building the capacity of these water agencies so that they can be truly independent and sustainable in their operations.

Conservation is also very important. Water was free during the USSR days so the concept of conservation is new to people. They now conserve water because there is drought.

But without this problem, they would likely go back to old practices. We need to educate them about this, and the best way is through their rural assemblies.

We will also try and help them structure tariff charges. The Government has been collecting tariffs for some time, but the principle of cost recovery is not used. On the other side of the coin, people welcome the idea of tariffs, but because of their income level, it is still difficult to charge.

How does the project respond to government policies?

The Government promotes developing a stable and flexible water supply, strengthening water agencies involved, and implementing water conservation programs. It puts special emphasis on rural water supply that, historically, has always lagged behind urban water supply.

With the onset of the drought, the Government also formulated the 10-year Aral Sea Drought Relief Program for Karakalpakstan and Khorezm in 2000. Besides improving the quantity and quality of potable water supply, the program includes health care, microcredit-based employment generation, social protection for vulnerable families, and irrigation and drainage.

The main components of the project directly support the government policy and 10-year plan.

How does the Project reduce poverty?

Most of the people in Karakalpakstan and Khorezm are so poor that anything can help them. Specifically, though, the water shortage and the highly saline nature of available water resources have posed serious health risks, affected employment, degraded the environment, and generally increased the number of people living below subsistence levels.

The different project components hope to improve this situation.

What are the main challenges ahead?

Coordination is going to be a major challenge because there are many central and local agencies and several aid institutions working in the same areas and toward the same goals.

We also have to work within Uzbekistan’s complicated internal procedures, which may delay our progress. But the Government has shown a really strong commitment to the Project, and our Resident Mission has been very supportive. In general, the situation is hopeful.

Can you share an anecdote about your personal experience with the Project?

The first time I drank tea during one of the site visits, I thought the people put salt in it. And then I was told that their water is naturally salty.

The people in Karakalpakstan and Khorezm have been drinking salty water for so long that they don’t know that water shouldn’t be salty.

Because of the water shortage, people drink any water—even water that poses serious health risks—because that’s the only water they have. The Project will not just give them better quality water but also educate them about good and bad water.

Learn more about ADB's activities in Uzbekistan

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