Over the past year, the water level in Lake Balkhash has risen by 0.12 meters, and the volume of water has increased by 2 billion cubic meters, according to Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation.
Located 175 miles northwest of Almaty, Kazakhstan’s largest city, Lake Balkhash is the world’s fifteenth-largest lake.
In May 2024, reports indicated that Balkhash’s water level had risen by 0.23 meters since the start of the year, largely due to increased rainfall and snowmelt floods during spring. Since the beginning of 2025, 3.8 billion cubic meters of water have been released from the Kapchagay reservoir in Almaty region into Lake Balkhash.
The lake’s water volume largely depends on the transboundary Ili River, which originates in China and supplies about 70% of Balkhash’s inflow. The river’s flow is regulated by the Kapchagay reservoir. This year, Lake Balkhash is expected to receive a total of 12 billion cubic meters of water from the reservoir.
According to Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation Nurzhan Nurzhigitov, the ministry will meet with French experts next week to begin preparations for a master plan to conserve Lake Balkhash through 2040.
The Times of Central Asia previously reported that in December 2024, Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation signed a cooperation agreement with the French Development Agency (AFD) and the French Geological Survey (BRGM, Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières) to preserve Lake Balkhash.
Under the agreement, the French side will allocate a grant of 1.35 million euros to Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation to support the development of sustainable water management practices for the lake. The project includes a comprehensive study of the Lake Balkhash basin and the creation of a long-term preservation plan extending through 2040.
