Central Asia Advances Efforts Toward Sustainable Water and Energy Solutions

Central Asian countries are showing a growing readiness to collaborate on the management of shared water resources.

Officials from Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan have signed an agreement covering allocations from the Bahri Tochik reservoir during the summer crop-growing season, the Tajik Ministry of Energy & Water Resources announced in a May 30 Telegram post, The Caspian Post reports citing foreign media.

Under the agreement, which runs from June through the end of August, Kazakhstan is allotted 491 million cubic meters of water for crop irrigation/

“We can effectively resist climate challenges only with cooperation,” the news agency quoted Kazakh Minister of Water Resources Nurzhan Nurzhigitov as saying. Official reports did not specify the water allotments for Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

The Bahri Tochik (formerly Kayrakkum) reservoir is one of Tajikistan’s largest, built in 1950 to draw water from the Syr Darya River. An analysis of the Syr Darya Basin for 2024-25, published by the Interstate Commission for Water Coordination in Central Asia, showed that during the non-growing season from October to March, the amount of water released from the Bahri Tochik slightly exceeded intake. At the same time, more water from the Syr Darya reached the Northern Aral Sea than projected.

In addition to managing water resources, regional states are striving to coordinate hydropower production. Officials from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan signed a protocol in Tashkent in mid-May covering the operation of hydropower facilities to guarantee the “uninterrupted and efficient operation of water and energy systems during the summer,” Kazinform reported.