Assessment and forecast of water resources use in Uzbekistan

Abstract

The article examines the assessment of the state and problems of irrigation water use in the republic in the past and in the near future. A comparative analysis of the state of water resources use for the period of the last 30 years from 1989 to 2019 was carried out. According to the estimates, own water withdrawal for 5 years (2014 / 15-2018/19) shows that an average of 53.2 billion m3 were used for irrigation, including 50.5 billion m3 from rivers. At present (2018-2019), an average of 57.06 billion m3 of water is taken for irrigation of 4.289 million hectares of land, against 63.02 billion m3 approved in 1989. At the same time, the actual water consumption amounted to 48.9 billion m3. Specific water consumption (in the years of average water content) in the Amudarya river basin is 12.5 thousand m3/ha, in the Syrdarya basin - 10.4 thousand m3/ha. Forecast calculations show that there is a tendency to reduce water from rivers to agriculture by an average of 0.104 billion m3/year, with an increase in other sectors from 11.53% (communal and household sector) to 100% (fisheries). The volume of discharges into CDS is decreasing due to the use of collector-drainage waters throughout the region, while specific water consumption has increased to 11.50 thousand m3/ha, i.e. by 450 m3/ha or 28.1%. The reasons for the lack of water for irrigating agricultural crops during the period of vegetative irrigation are stated. The issues of water saving and ways of transition to modern technologies for the use of surface and ground waters, redistribution of water and solutions for the interstate use of river resources are touched upon.