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High Water in Kyrgyzstan’s Toktogul Reservoir Forecast to Boost Electricity Generation

On August 2, the volume of water in the reservoir of Kyrgyzstan's Toktogul hydroelectric power plant reached 11.922 billion cubic meters, which according to the plant's operator Electric Stations OJSC, is almost one billion cubic meters more than that recorded on August 1, 2023. Located on the Naryn River, which feeds the Syr Darya River that flows to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, Toktogul HPP is the largest power plant in Kyrgyzstan and generates some 40% of the country’s electricity. The Toktogul reservoir currently receives 840 cubic meters of water per second and releases 475 cubic meters per second. The released water is used to generate electricity and then flows to downstream countries where it is used for irrigation. The reservoir has a maximum capacity of 19.5 billion cubic meters, with an average volume is 17.3 billion cubic meters, and the "dead" level at which the power plant would stop operating is 5.5 billion cubic meters. As reported by 24.kg news agency, Electric Stations OJSC expects the volume of water in the Toktogul reservoir to reach 12.5 billion cubic meters at the beginning of the next heating season (October 1, 2024) and at the end of 2024/25 season, fall to around 7.9 billion cubic meters. Toktogul HPP comprises four hydroelectric units with a total generating capacity of 1320 MW and on completion of the modernization of hydroelectric unit #1, later this year, the capacity will increase by 60 MW and reach 1380 MW. In recent years, because Kyrgyzstan has been unable to produce enough electricity to meet the country's growing demand, electricity has been imported from neighbouring states.

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Natural Disasters Have Cost Tajikistan $12 Million So Far This Year

The head of Tajikistan’s committee for emergency situations and civil defense, Rustam Nazarzada, has said at a press conference that the economic damage caused by natural disasters in the country this year has amounted to over $12 million. Floods, landslides, heavy rains, avalanches, rockfalls, and earthquakes, which have claimed over 100 lives this year, have also caused considerable damage to Tajikistan’s economy and private sector. Nazarzoda said that 532 emergency cases were registered during this period, 57 more than last year.

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Kyrgyzstan to Ban Plastic Bags

Following a ban of plastic bags in biosphere reserves and natural protected areas on June 1 2024, Kyrgyzstan is to prohibit their production, sale and distribution nationwide, from 2027 onwards. Regarding the move, the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Kyrgyz Republic stated: "Plastic and the pollution it causes, is detrimental to human health. Plastic enters the human body as micro- and nano-particles through food, packaging, water, and air. Plastic waste continues to pollute the environment at the disposal stage, and waste disposal workers suffer, especially from close contact with burning plastic." Asel Raimkulova, Deputy Minister of Natural Resources, Ecology and Technical Supervision of Kyrgyzstan, told the Times of Central Asia that whilst the use of plastic products which can be recycled within the country is under review and likely to continue, the ban on plastic bags throughout the country is absolute. Deputy ministers however, have opposed the use of plastic bottles but said that given the lack of alternatives available to Kyrgyz bottling companies, some exceptions will be made. According to eco-activists, Kyrgyzstan has some 80 plants to recycle plastic but since seven out of ten supermarket products are now fully or partially packaged in plastic, they do not have the capacity to process the ever-increasing volume of waste. "For example, in Kyrgyzstan, tetra paks—multi-layer juice or milk cartons that, at first glance, look like cardboard—are not recyclable. In addition to cardboard, such packaging contains a layer of aluminum and several layers of polyethylene. And separating them from each other is not easy,” stressed activists of the environmental movement Peshcom.

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Kazakhstan Reports on Renewable Energy Generation

The Kazakh minister for energy, Almasadam Satkaliyev, reported on July 29 that the country produced 60.4 billion kWh in the first half of 2024. The minister also reported on developing renewable energy sources, which accounted for almost 6.5% of the country’s electricity generation in the first six months of the year. According to the Ministry of Energy, Kazakhstan has 148 renewable energy facilities with a total capacity of 2,903 MW. These include 59 wind power plants with a total capacity of 1,409 MW; 46 solar power plants with a capacity of 1,222 MW; 40 hydroelectric power plants with a capacity of 269.7 MW; and three biogas power plants with a capacity of 1.7 MW. In the first half of 2024, these renewable energy facilities generated 3.896 billion kWh of electricity (wind power plants -- 2.325 billion kWh; solar power plants -- 974.9 million kWh; hydroelectric power plants -- 595.3 million kWh; and biogas plants -- 0.43 million kWh), or 6.47% of the total electricity production volume. Satkaliyev also reported that in the first half of 2024, Kazakhstan produced 44.7 million tons of crude oil, 6.78 million tons of petroleum products, and 30.1 billion cubic meters of natural gas.

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Kyrgyzstan Accelerates Work to Bring Drinking Water to Villages

While only 637 of Kyrgyzstan’s 1906 villages have access to clean drinking water, the government plans to provide piped drinking water to an additional 1071 villages in the near future. The country's minister of water resources and agriculture, Bakyt Torobayev, ordered this work to be accelerated on July 30. Torobayev ordered the expedition of work in this area, emphasizing that providing clean water to the population is one of the ministry's top priorities. “The population must be provided with clean drinking water,” he said. The Ministry of Water Resources is currently implementing a program to provide clean drinking water to 260 towns and villages across the country. In addition, a program for using groundwater from 2024 to 2030 will be implemented, with plans to repair 1,155 wells.

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Can the Aral Sea Be Saved?

Thanks to cooperation between the Central Asian states, the ultimate demise of the Aral Sea has been prevented. This year, the Northern Aral Sea has significantly replenished its water reserves. The Northern portion of the Aral Sea has received 12.5 times more water this year than the previous year - up to 75 cubic meters per second, the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation of Kazakhstan stated in July. The Syr Darya River delivers 650 cubic meters of water per second to the Kyzylorda Oblast. "Joint work has been carried out with Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. In particular, approved water supply schedules are being observed,” Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation, Nurzhan Nurzhigitov explained. Formerly the world's fourth-largest lake covering 68,000 km², the destruction of the Aral Sea first dates back as far as the U.S. Civil War, when, finding his supply of American cotton under threat, the Russian Tsar decided to use the sea’s tributaries to irrigate Central Asia and create his own cotton bowl. With 1.8 million liters of water needed for every bale of cotton, the water soon began to run out. From the 1960s onwards, the sea level began to decline rapidly due to water withdrawal from the main feeder rivers, the Amu Darya and Syr Darya. The local population was growing, and fields needed irrigating. In 1989, the sea split into the Northern (Small) and Southern (Large) Aral reservoirs. [caption id="attachment_21020" align="aligncenter" width="591"] The former port of Zhalanash, Kazakhstan; image: TCA, Stephen M. Bland[/caption] Since independence, the rate of shoaling and desertification have continued to increase. Up until the late-1990s, the land surrounding the Aral Sea was still cotton fields; but today, it’s largely an expanse of salinized grey emptiness. The desiccation of the landscape has led to vast toxic dust-storms that ravage around 1.5 million square kilometers. Spreading nitrates and carcinogens, these storms – visible from space – used to occur once every five years, but now strike ten times a year. By 2007, the Aral had shrunk to one-tenth its original size. In 2014, the eastern part of the Southern Lake dried up completely, and the sea's area reached a historical low of 7,297 km². Over half a century, the volume of water had decreased 30-fold, and the sea's salinity has risen sharply. Nevertheless, Kazakhstan still manages to preserve the remnants of the once colossal lake; the region's fisheries and farms continue, and rare species of birds still inhabit the lands surrounding the shoreline. Today, most scientists say restoring the Aral Sea completely is impossible, but Kazakhstan is attempting to preserve the Northern portion, sometimes referred to as the "Small Aral Sea." In 1993, the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea (IFSAS) was established, which united Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan in this most challenging of tasks. At the time of IFSAS creation, the water area stood at approximately 36,000 km². Over the following decades, it continued to decline, and in 2001 Vozrozhdeniya (Renaissance) Island became connected to the mainland. Vozrozhdeniya contains...