Kazakhstan intends to develop a new edition of the Water Code, announced Magzum Mirzagaliyev, Kazakh Minister of Ecology, Geology and Natural Resources during a Government hour of the Senate, the Upper House of the Kazakh Parliament. The document has been amended more than 60 times over almost two decades of its existence. According to the minister, because of this, the authorities lost the consistency of law enforcement, and the situation at all levels of the water sector deteriorated. Moreover, the current Code does not regulate the technical issues of design, construction and operation of water facilities. The minister also said that more than 2,000 kilometers of irrigation networks will to be reconstructed in Kazakhstan in the next three years. The construction of new reservoirs is also on the agenda.

“The construction of 39 new reservoirs is planned in nine regions with a total volume of 3.6 billion cubic meters a year. The construction costs 115 billion tenge (US$266 million). The reservoirs will allow to reduce the threat of floods for 70 settlements, to introduce into circulation 394,000 hectares of new irrigated lands and create more than 129,000 jobs in agriculture,” said Mirzagaliyev.

This will allow Kazakhstan to become less dependent on the water volume of transboundary rivers. In particular, up to 30 percent less dependent on Kyrgyzstan, up to 25 percent on Uzbekistan and up to 15 percent on Russia.

Spurce: https://kazakh-tv.kz/en/view/business/page_218053_kazakhstan-to-develop-new-water-code