In preparation for potential floods next spring, Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation is gradually releasing water from reservoirs in the country’s northern, western, central, and eastern regions to ensure they can receive snowmelt water in case of flooding.
In Kostanay Region, the Karatomar reservoir releases 50 cubic meters of water per second.
In Aktobe Region, the Kargalinsky reservoir discharges 15 cubic meters of water per second, and 107 million cubic meters of water were released from the Aktobe reservoir from August 23 to October 1.
In western Kazakhstan, three cubic meters of water per second are released from the Kirov reservoir, 13 cubic meters per second from the Bitik reservoir, six cubic meters from the Dunguluk reservoir, and five cubic meters from the Pyatimar reservoir.
At the same time, reservoirs in dry southern regions of Kazakhstan keep accumulating water for next year’s growing season.
Deputy Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation Nurlan Aldamzharov commented that the country’s reservoirs accumulated 75 billion cubic meters of water this past spring, 15 billion cubic meters more than last year. More than 12 billion cubic meters of that water was flood water.
In the spring of 2024, Kazakhstan’s western and northern regions suffered from unprecedented floods caused by the rapid snowmelt. The floods destroyed thousands of homes and forced almost 100,000 people to evacuate from flood zones.
