Uzbekistan’s Aquatic Environment and Water Management as an Area of Interest for Hydrology and Thematic Tourism

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 642
Author(s):  
Jacek RÓŻKOWSKI ◽  
Mariusz RZĘTAŁA
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Groundwater Resources ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Aral Sea ◽  
Irrigated Agriculture ◽  
Human Consumption ◽  
Irrigation Systems ◽  
Natural Lakes ◽  
Area Of Interest

The functioning of Uzbekistan’s economy is closely linked to the water resources of its huge cross-border rivers: the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya, as well as to the groundwater present within their basins. Both natural lakes and artificial reservoirs (e.g. the Aydar-Arnasay system of lakes, the Kayrakkum Reservoir, the Chardarya Reservoir) are present there, which retain significant amounts of water, and large canals with lengths of up to several hundred kilometres which involve complex hydraulic structures are used for irrigation purposes. All these are components of a water management system which needs optimisation; as much as 80% of agricultural land is irrigated, with 70% of the water being lost due to inefficient irrigation systems. The consequence of this allocation of river flows and the overuse of water in irrigation systems has been the disappearance of the Aral Sea (1960 year – 68,900 km2, 2017 year – 8,600 km2) and the inflow of water into the Sarygamysh Lake as well as the reduction of Uzbekistan’s groundwater resources by about 40%. The intensive development of irrigated agriculture is associated with changes in surface and groundwater quality caused, inter alia, by the increased use of chemicals in agriculture and the discharge of collector-drainage waters into river systems as well as their reuse. The extent of environmental degradation in some areas (especially in the Aral Sea region) is unique on a global scale. The origins of Uzbekistan’s other hydrological tourist attractions are related to attempts to ensure the availability of water for both human consumption and industrial use under conditions of water scarcity in the country’s arid and semi-arid climates. Not just the spectacular watercourses and water bodies present there (e.g. rivers, lakes, canals), but also small water retention facilities and minor infrastructure elements (e.g. wells, springs and retention basins, canals, ditches and flow control structures) are of potential tourist importance.

scholarly journals Analysis of issues in sustainable water management of irrigation systems: case of a developing country

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
D.C. Sirimewan ◽  
A.P.K.D. Mendis ◽  
Damitha Rajini ◽  
Aparna Samaraweera ◽  
Naiduwa Handi Chathuri Manjula
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
Developing Countries ◽  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Research Strategy ◽  
Irrigated Agriculture ◽  
Irrigation Systems ◽  
Sustainable Water Management ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Environmental Integrity ◽  
Irrigation Infrastructure

PurposeSustaining the irrigated agriculture, while conserving the natural eco-system, are the two main objectives of sustainable water management (SWM) in irrigation. Achieving both the objectives simultaneously is a complex task in most developing countries. This requires a holistic approach of understanding the issues in irrigation water management (IWM) from social, economic and environmental perspectives. Therefore, this paper aims to analyse the issues towards the SWM of irrigation systems in Sri Lanka to help maintain a stable relationship between the aforementioned two objectives.Design/methodology/approachQualitative interview survey was selected as the research strategy to achieve the research aim. 16 semi-structured interviews were conducted with experts in IWM sector to collect data in the Sri Lankan context. Data were analysed using code-based content analysis, based on directed approach.FindingsFindings revealed the issues in SWM in terms of efficiency of irrigation infrastructure; equity of water distribution; environmental integrity and economic acceptability. Most of the issues were related to the inefficiency towards SWM of irrigation systems. Conflicts among water users, especially the people in downstreams aggravated the problem of equity of water sharing. Depletion of groundwater and waterlogging were the major issues towards environmental integrity. Loss of water happened due to the issues in different irrigation infrastructure components hindering economic acceptability.Originality/valueTheoretical contribution includes an analysis of issues in IWM from a sustainability perspective. Practical implications include an overview of deficiencies in the SWM to generate appropriate strategies to achieve sustainability for decision-makers such as policymakers in the irrigation sector in developing countries similar to Sri Lanka.

Modelling raw water quality—development of a drinking water management tool

2008 ◽  
Vol 8 (5) ◽  
pp. 589-596
Author(s):  
Ch. Kübeck ◽  
W. van Berk ◽  
A. Bergmann
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
Water Quality ◽  
Drinking Water ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Groundwater Resources ◽  
Management Tool ◽  
Quality Development ◽  
Raw Water ◽  
Economic Resource ◽  
Raw Water Quality

Ensuring future drinking water supply requires a tough management of groundwater resources. However, recent practice of economic resource control often does not involve aspects of the hydrogeochemical and geohydraulical groundwater system. In respect of analysing the available quantity and quality of future raw water, an effective resource management requires a full understanding of the hydrogeochemical and geohydraulical processes within the aquifer. For example, the knowledge of raw water quality development with time helps to work out strategies of water treatment as well as planning finance resources. On the other hand, the effectiveness of planned measurements reducing the infiltration of harmful substances such as nitrate can be checked and optimized by using hydrogeochemical modelling. Thus, within the framework of the InnoNet program funded by Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology, a network of research institutes and water suppliers work in close cooperation developing a planning and management tool particularly oriented on water management problems. The tool involves an innovative material flux model that calculates the hydrogeochemical processes under consideration of the dynamics in agricultural land use. The program integrated graphical data evaluation is aligned on the needs of water suppliers.

An Agent Based Hydro Informatics Approach for the Engagement of Farmers in Irrigation Water Management in Saudi Arabia

2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-64
Author(s):  
Tagelsir Mohamed Gasmelseid
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
Water Resources ◽  
Water Use ◽  
Irrigation Water ◽  
Software Agents ◽  
Irrigated Agriculture ◽  
Management Approach ◽  
Irrigation Systems ◽  
Agent Based ◽  
Conflicting Objectives

The use of software agent systems and technologies to simulate water resources management scenarios and improve the engagement of stakeholders in policy making is gaining paramount importance. Such importance originates from two main concerns or change agents. Firstly, the context of water management is becoming highly complicated due to the intensity of connections with other systems, the diversity of stakeholders and the multiplicity (and sometime conflicting) objectives of decision partners. Moreover, the domain used for capitalizing on water management issues is becoming planetary (as it is the case of shared basins) rather than being local (watershed, watercourse, scheme, etc.). As a result, the concern is not limited to the optimization of the utility matrix of stakeholders but additional attention is required to incorporate many emerging issues such as the maintenance of financial sustainability, functional mainstreaming and improving engagement to promote reconciliation and change of water use behaviors. Secondly, the recent technological developments have improved the processing capacity of hardware, software functionalities and the accessibility of telecommunication platforms. Such developments have been reflected in the improvement of the capacities of decision makers to address complex problem domains. Software agents' technologies possess the qualities that make them useful for the provision of decision support in water management domains. As it is the case of irrigated agriculture, software agents' technology can be used for the design of farm surface irrigation systems, the improvement of irrigation systems management and the enhancement of the involvement of farmers in the processes of integrated water management. This paper is concerned with the use of agent based systems to facilitate the engagement of farmers in Al Ahsaa area in the management of water resources. The government of the Kingdom is adopting a demand management approach for the management of irrigation water by discouraging the cultivation of water-consuming crops such as wheat and dates. Improving the ability of farmers to analyze alternative cropping patterns significantly affects their water use behavior.

scholarly journals Improvement And Modernization of Agricultural Irrigation. Uzbekistan Case Study

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Olim K. Rakhimov ◽  
Obidjon Hafizovich Khamidov ◽  
Tomás S. Cuesta García
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
Market Economy ◽  
Aral Sea ◽  
Past Century ◽  
Agricultural Irrigation ◽  
Irrigation Systems ◽  
Aral Sea Basin ◽  
Future Goals ◽  
Political Reality

This paper analyzes the history and present of irrigation in agriculture in Uzbekistan to set future goals. The changes produced in the economic and political reality in Central Asia in this past century are of great importance for water management in the Aral Sea basin. This framework also considers the relationships between countries that share water resources. Changes in the market economy, the need to diversify the Uzbek economy, and the need to produce food make inevitable changes in water management. It is essential to address the modernization and improvement of the irrigation systems of Uzbekistan.

The Water Management Mechanism Improvement in the Zone of Risked Land Use

2019 ◽  
pp. 46-56
Author(s):  
Katerina I. Ryzhova ◽  
Valerii N. Mandzyk ◽  
Andriy I. Holybkov
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
Land Use ◽  
Management System ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Wide Spectrum ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Irrigated Agriculture ◽  
Investment Activity ◽  
Water Users ◽  
Domestic Capital

The peculiarities of forming an effective water management system in the area of risk agricultural land use are considered. The main tendencies of capital investments financing and current expenses for protection and rehabilitation of soil, underground and surface waters are analyzed. In addition, as the analysis shows, low investment attractiveness, especially in the melioration zone, does not contribute to the flow not only of foreign but also of domestic capital, which multiplier influences the slowdown in the rates of socio-economic functioning of settlements located in areas of melioration land concentration. It has been shown that best practices prove that investing in the functioning of land melioration is a major factor in improving the efficiency of agrarian production. That is why it has been recognized as one of the priority directions of the stable functioning of agrarian production. The developed countries use quite different forms of investment activities, and in the process of regulation of investment activity such countries use various measures that form favorable conditions for attracting both domestic and foreign capital. It is shown that the formation of effective management system is impossible without institutionalization of a wide spectrum of forms of partnership relations between different objects of functioning. The prospects for increasing the amount of land melioration financing are associated with the spread of cooperation processes between the state and the water users association regarding the operation of land melioration systems with the ability to combine budget financing with investments of private business entities, both domestic and foreign. The prospects of foreign experience regarding the investing in the functioning of agricultural land melioration are analyzed. The agricultural land melioration is the most important factor in improving the efficiency of agricultural production in Ukraine. It is shown that the reforming of irrigation systems management should be carried out on the basis of decentralization with the transfer of water management and water operating functions to water users on the basis of their association. Key words: association of water users, water resources, irrigated agriculture, investment, integrated management.

Geoinformation technology for increasing the sustainability of agricultural production and water security in the Aral Sea Basin

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Conrad ◽  
Muhammad Usman ◽  
Lucia Morper-Busch ◽  
Sarah Schönbrodt-Stitt
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
Remote Sensing ◽  
Land Use ◽  
Water Use ◽  
Water Distribution ◽  
Water Security ◽  
Aral Sea ◽  
Irrigated Agriculture ◽  
Climate Data ◽  
Aral Sea Basin

<p>Extensive over-exploitation of land and water resources is characterizing irrigated agriculture in the Aral Sea Basin (ASB). Over decades, inefficient and excessive water use had remarkable negative impacts on the groundwater and soil quality, hence on crop production. The countries sharing to the ASB look for opportunities to increase the sustainability in the water intensive agricultural sector that is of utmost importance for the densely populated oases as well as for the ecosystems along the river systems. This is also of urgent pressure as there is high evidence that climate change will deplete natural storages such as glaciers. One major bottleneck for spatially targeted decision and policy-making is the absence of scientific information and tools that would allow for informed decisions, e.g. on the implementation of water saving technologies, alternative land use options or water allocation. A review on scientific literature published in the period 2008-2019 underpins the potentials of remote sensing technology in combination with climate data and further geospatial information to close this gap. However, the key question is how to increase the sustainability of irrigated agriculture and water security using this technology in reality? This contribution aims to outline requirements and challenges to bring knowledge from remote sensing into practice. This will be done using the example of the online-tool Water Use Efficiency Monitor for Central Asia (WUEMoCA, http://wuemoca.net/) developed within the German Water Initiative in Central Asia (https://www.cawa-project.net/).</p><p>It was observed that remote sensing-based results remain isolated as long as they are not integrated into accessible databases, thus are unlinked from regional knowledge and information platforms, e.g., providing commonly applied approaches to water distribution. The tool WUEMoCA combines the remote sensing knowledge with climate data and socio-economic information and serves as an online database with hydrological and land-use indicators requested by regional decision-makers. To increase the ownership of the WUEMoCA tool by potential users (water management authorities and governments) and to account for the sensitivity of data in transnational water management, a toolbox is integrated allowing for user-specific own calculations and development of local databases. By doing so, users can decide by themselves to share information with others or not. So far, user feedback from the water distribution sector and governmental departments in Uzbekistan, but also from other countries assessed WUEMoCA as an important regional data source and database, but also a calculation tool for supporting informed decisions-making, highlight the tool’s relevance for increasing water security in the ASB.</p><p>Technically, the next steps may include the development of early warning systems, e.g. for droughts. Yet, it must be clear to the responsible users from the region that long-running tools from research projects can never take over important national tasks. Long-term cooperation is required. In addition, for a sustainable development of such tools, national scientific institutions require a strengthening of the capacity in the application of geoinformation technology. The latter is indicated by the fact that almost all of the published articles were submitted under affiliations from abroad.</p>

scholarly journals ORGANIZATIONAL AND ECONOMIC MECHANISM OF IMPROVING THE EFFICIENCY OF WATER RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

2019 ◽  
pp. 88-93
Author(s):  
Kateryna Ryzhova ◽  
Olga Mytrofanova
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
Water Use ◽  
Management System ◽  
State Regulation ◽  
Irrigated Agriculture ◽  
Systems Management ◽  
Irrigation Systems ◽  
Economic Mechanism ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations

The necessity of a fundamentally new approach to the formation of a water management system and state regulation of water use has been proved in order to achieve sustainable water use parameters in the agricultural sector of the economy. The principles of integrated water management in irrigated agriculture are defined. It is shown that the formation of the model of integrated management in the water management and reclamation complex requires the introduction of organizational and economic innovations, changes in the institutional environment, transformations in the organizational structure of agricultural enterprises and public authorities. The essence of transformations of the irrigated agriculture management system is disclosed, which involves the transfer of irrigation systems management from state structures to non-governmental organizations. In this case, the transfer of powers and responsibilities from state structures to non-governmental organizations can be carried out with the transition stage of joint management, which is the most rational in the current conditions. Found that the formation of effective management system is impossible without institutionalization of a wide spectrum of forms of partnership relations between different objects of functioning. It is shown that the reforming of irrigation systems management should be carried out on the basis of decentralization with the transfer of water management and water operations to water, this will ensure that water resources and irrigation system infrastructure are managed effectively at the lowest level. The basic directions of improvement of the economic mechanism of development of reclamation are offered.

Modelling raw water quality: development of a drinking water management tool

2009 ◽  
Vol 59 (1) ◽  
pp. 117-124 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ch. Kübeck ◽  
W. van Berk ◽  
A. Bergmann
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
Water Quality ◽  
Drinking Water ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Groundwater Resources ◽  
Management Tool ◽  
Quality Development ◽  
Raw Water ◽  
Economic Resource ◽  
Raw Water Quality

Ensuring future drinking water supply requires a tough management of groundwater resources. However, recent practices of economic resource control often does not involve aspects of the hydrogeochemical and geohydraulical groundwater system. In respect of analysing the available quantity and quality of future raw water, an effective resource management requires a full understanding of the hydrogeochemical and geohydraulical processes within the aquifer. For example, the knowledge of raw water quality development within the time helps to work out strategies of water treatment as well as planning finance resources. On the other hand, the effectiveness of planed measurements reducing the infiltration of harmful substances such as nitrate can be checked and optimized by using hydrogeochemical modelling. Thus, within the framework of the InnoNet program funded by Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology, a network of research institutes and water suppliers work in close cooperation developing a planning and management tool particularly oriented on water management problems. The tool involves an innovative material flux model that calculates the hydrogeochemical processes under consideration of the dynamics in agricultural land use. The program integrated graphical data evaluation is aligned on the needs of water suppliers.

Issues in sustainable water management of irrigation systems in Sri Lanka

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
D.C. Sirimewan1 ◽  
◽  
N.H.C. Manjula ◽  
A. Samaraweera ◽  
A.P.K.D. Mendis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Irrigation Systems ◽  
Sustainable Water Management
Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document