Once hot season came, Bishkek faced the shortage of drinking water. According to officials, weather conditions and irrational use of water resources are to blame. However, experts believe that water crisis is the indicator of general ineffective approach to management and problems did not occur in one day.
First messages of water shortage in Bishkek began to appear in the middle of May. Back then, the mayor’s office of Bishkek limited the supply of drinking water in the daytime to some nearest villages and Archa Beshik residential area in the suburb of the city.
On May 31, one day before new drinking water rates became effective, it was reported that restrictions were prolonged until the situation would improve. City authorities explained it by “watering green spaces and absence of irrigation system.”
Along with that, the mayor’s office administration together with utility service providers started to carry out inspections. By results of inspections, private bathhouses, car washes and swimming pools were temporarily closed in Bishkek because they used too much water. Citizens were urged to save water. Later on, some recreation complexes and carpet and down washing points were closed.
On June 6, drinking water supply was suspended at night time to residential areas of Bishkek. Restrictions applied to the southern part of the city and some residential neighbourhoods. According to Bishkekvodokanal, it was a “desperate measure because water tanks must be filled for stable water supply of the capital.”
Bishkek resident Altynai, living in microdistrict Dzhal-29 in the southern part of Bishkek, said “she was so angry those days.”
“The water supply was cut off regularly after 5 pm for over a week. It came only at midnight or later,” the woman said. “In the evening, all come from work, want to eat, have a wash. And because of such cuts, you can neither take a shower, nor wash the dishes. Moreover, it was almost 40 degrees outside!”
To meet the minimum needs, one had to buy 10-litre bottles of water. But, according to Altynai, it was not enough to do the washing or to wash hair for a family of five members.
According to Altynai, when it comes to payment of bills, utility service providers threaten to cut water supply at once, and when it came to supply water to people, it was almost impossible to reach them by the phone or get a reasonable response from them.
Water cut in Bishkek coincided with the heat wave. The air temperature at daytime reached 39.5 degrees Celsius. The period of June 6 to 9 was the hottest in the history of weather observation. It is easy to figure out how uncomfortable was for residents to stay without water in such conditions.
According to reports, Archa Beshik had the most tricky situation with water. When residents were left without drinking water, they held a rally on June 7 and blocked one of the city avenues. Angry residents claimed they were left without water for several days and demanded to solve the problem immediately. Police officers attended the rally to settle the situation. Later on, water was delivered in water tanks to the residential area, and on June 8 it was reported that water supply was restored to the area. From June 14 to date, water is supplied to Archa Beshik on schedule.
Reaction of authorities
Drinking water is supplied to Bishkek from 37 irrigation intakes of Orto-Alysh and Ala-Archa water deposits. Orto-Alysh irrigation intake, which supplies over 40 per cent of drinking water, is the main source of water in the capital. Problems began because the level of groundwater at the specified facility fell 15-20 metres down compared to last year.
“We lack one thousand of cubic metres per hour,” said Kadyrbek Otorov, chief engineer of Bishkekvodokanal, said to CABAR.asia. “And almost in 80 per cent cases, it is due to climatic events because the water-bearing layer is recharged from rivers.”
To improve the situation, Bishkekvodokanal and Chui Water Management Office signed the contract for supply of 11 million cubic metres of water to fill recharge lakes of Orto-Alysh irrigation intake. However, slow runoffs from glaciers and low precipitation in February and March prevented from solving the problem.
Moreover, according to the mayor’s office, water deficit was caused by the population growth and increase in consumption, irrational use of water resources, as well as watering of green spaces and gardens in the private sector. At the brief, Vice Mayor Zhyrgalbek Shamyraliev said that the rate of water consumption per person was 170 litres of water daily. According to him, it was enough for daily living needs. However, in summer, according to the official, residents of private houses use tap water to water gardens and use more than then should.
To supply drinking water to the city, the mayor’s office has organised a range of events, including allocation of land plots for expansion of existing irrigation intakes, drilling of new wells, construction of water supply lines and pumping stations.
Several deputies of the parliament of Kyrgyzstan urged the government to build and repair the water supply facilities, which are obsolete and not enough for the million-plus city, on a priority basis.
Before leaving for summer vacation, Member of Parliament Dastan Bekeshev proposed to address the question of water problems at the parliament session, but Speaker of Parliament Nurlan Shakiev said that deputies have little time and if they discuss this question, they will not have time to consider more draft laws.
“Even if we discuss it here, there won’t be more water, glaciers won’t melt down,” Shakiev said. This statement of the speaker has caused a wave of criticism among social media users.
There were also proposals to initiate a criminal case against the mayor’s office of Bishkek for negligence. In the end, the head of Bishkekvodokanal and other responsible persons received a reprimand.
In early July, the head of the cabinet of ministers, Akylbek Zhaparov, said that “the question of full water supply of the city and Chui region will be completely resolved in 2-3 years.” He checked out how irrigation intakes worked and gave instructions to relevant services. He ordered to revise penalties for the use of drinking water instead of irrigation water, to determine the place for construction of the water reservoir, as well as make calculations for digital capture of hydrological maps. The head of the cabinet of minsters promised to allocate the funds needed for the works.
Ways to solve the problem
According to experts, the problem with water, which occurred in Bishkek in June, did not occur in one day. According to specialists, this is the indicator of general ineffective approach to management. To avoid such problems in the future, authorities must think in advance instead of trying to resolve critical situations by unpopular methods.
Climatologist Zoya Kretova said that climate change, which is apparent now, aggravates water problems in Kyrgyzstan, but is not their main cause.
“We would inevitably face this crisis sooner or later,” the expert said. “It would happen because we have problems with water resource management and irrational use. 30 years of such mismanagement have just been aggravated by climatic challenges.”
According to Kretova, on top of that, Kyrgyzstan lacks utility water, unlike foreign countries. Therefore, drinking water resources are used everywhere.
Zhanybek Kulumbetov, expert in resource efficiency, Unison Group, also indicated the absence of water management policy and misdistribution of water.
“The water supply system of the city is obsolete and has not changed for many years. We do some minor repairs in some situations until we have the accident,” he said. “Because of such accidents, water floods streets, and sometimes blows out, sometimes faucets leak. As a result, we lose water.”
According to the expert, there was a conversation several years ago about creation of an automated system to control water and heat distribution in the city and manage them efficiently. Moreover, he said, authorities say that they would supply drinking water to Kyrgyzstan for a long time. But nothing of that has been implemented so far.
First of all, according to the specialist, we need to create a system to save water and not waste it. It is the question of water-efficient technology. In particular, motion sensors for faucets should be installed everywhere. They feed water only when there are hands under the faucet. Or special aerated showers should be used because they let reduce water consumption by 30-40 per cent.
“We have all this equipment in our market,” the expert said. “If we don’t have something, we should consider taxation questions to let entrepreneurs deliver such things from abroad without hindrance.”
The same is true for watering in the city. According to Kulumbetov, drip irrigation, which delivers water right to the root system of plants, should be introduced everywhere. Thus, plants receive the moisture they need and water is saved considerably.
“In my practice, drip irrigation projects have been implemented in Batken region and Sokuluk area of Chui region,” the expert said. “And those projects have been quite a success. So, I think this method should be implemented as much as possible and used everywhere.”
Economist Marat Musuraliev said that authorities should have installed water meters a long time ago in order to save and properly distribute water resources. Especially it concerns private houses, car washes, bathhouses, land plots where gardens are watered, and other water intensive facilities.
“This will make owners introduce water purification system, which reuses water instead of draining it,” the analyst said. “To make the system pay off and available, tariff, tax and other conditions must be created.”
Moreover, according to Musuraliev, rates must be revised every year instead of raising once in several years. In this case, according to him, the cost would be affordable for subscribers and Bishkekvodokanal and other similar agencies would be able to upgrade fixed assets.
Experts agree that all the said events require large investment of money and time, but authorities should not put problem solving off because serious problems would occur in case of loss of water.
Ernest Karybekov, chair of international foundation “Institute for Water Use Problem Studies and Water and Energy Resources of Central Asia, also noted that the water in Kyrgyzstan is the key value of the country. Therefore, the priority task is to preserve water and manage it properly.
“It could be done based on scientific justifications and consistent work,” Karybekov said. “To do this, our state services must plan in advance and solve issues relating to human life and activities. After all, people pay them for that.”