Wastage a contributing factor.
Kazakh officials are working with international development banks and the UN Development Programme to address a burgeoning water shortage that threatens to throttle economic growth.
Regional analysts say the water deficit, combined with the need to rapidly boost power-generation capacity, are two of Kazakhstan’s most formidable obstacles to achieving President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s modernization agenda.
“The shortage of the resource has moved into the category of severe macroeconomic challenges, comparable in importance to access to capital or stable power generation,” wrote market analyst Geniyat Issin in a commentary published by the National Business Kazakhstan news platform. “Water is becoming a scarce factor of production – as strategic as energy or infrastructure. It is noteworthy that these categories are now inseparable.”
One of the country’s signature development projects, the construction of a nuclear power plant near Lake Balkhash, is clouded by a potential decline of the lake’s water level. “The country is hosting the decade's top energy project on the shores of a body of water whose sustainability is not guaranteed,” Issin wrote.
Astana is set to host a Regional Ecological Summit on April 22-24 during which the issue of water scarcity across Central Asia will feature prominently. The gathering aims to establish a mechanism involving regional governments and global stakeholders, including multilateral development banks (MDBs), to address climate-related issues, “demonstrating, through the example of Central Asia, how interregional cooperation strengthens global efforts.”
According to UNDP estimates, Kazakhstan may experience a shortfall of water of up to 50 percent of its needs for business and household use by 2040. The water deficit could reduce GDP by as much as 6 percent by 2050, the UNDP adds. The agency notes that 44 percent of river inflow into Kazakhstan originates in neighboring states, including China, adding that “the deficit will occur primarily due to intensive water use in neighboring countries.”
Antiquated infrastructure throughout Kazakhstan’s irrigation network is another, major contributing factor to the deficit “Irrigation water productivity in Kazakhstan is six to eight times lower compared to other countries,” according to the UNDP. Only about one-third of the existing irrigation network currently employs water-conservation technologies and roughly 50 percent of canals are in an advanced state of disrepair.
“As a result, water delivery efficiency remains critically low: of every 1 million cubic meters extracted from rivers, only 400,000–450,000 cubic meters reach farmland, compared to the benchmark of 700,000 cubic meters. Overall system losses reach up to 60 percent, while the productivity of irrigated land remains two to four times lower than in comparable countries,” a UNDP update noted.
Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation is working with MDBs to address modernization needs. In late 2024, for example, the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) launched a $1.15 billion project to build enhanced institutional “water-management capacity,” expand the use of new technologies, build new reservoirs, and upgrade the canal system. At a meeting held in February of this year, IsDB representatives indicated that a “structured implementation” phase was set to begin.
Last November, the Eurasian Development Bank authorized a $5.3 million grant to help Kazakhstan establish “regional centers for modern irrigation” and develop better forecasting models to promote more efficiency in water allocation.
Source: EURASIANET
