Kazakhstan

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Latest 4 maps for / including Kazakhstan (more..):

Ural ENVSEC.jpg

Caspian CC Natural Hazards ENVSEC.jpg

Central Asia Region Map.jpg

Kazakhstan is part of:
Asia & Pacific · Central Asia · Europe & CIS ·
Water Basins of Kazakhstan:
Aral Sea · Caspian · Chu-Talas · Ferghana Valley · Ili-Balkhash · Nura · Ob · Oral-Ural · Pu Lun To · Syr Darya · Ural · Vahksh · Volga ·

Facts & Figures

edit

Capital

Astana

Neighbouring Countries

China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan

Total Area

2,717,300 km²

- Water

47,500 km² (1.75%) / 175 m²/ha

- Land

2,669,800 km²

Coastline

0 km

Population

14,825,110 (5.4 inhab./km²)

HDI^A

0.807 (2007)

Gini Coefficient^A

33.9 (1995)

Nominal GDP^B

$141,200 million

GDP (PPP) Per Capita^B

$12,000

National UN Presence

UNDP, UNHCR, WHO, UNICEF, WB, UNESCO

Land Use^C

- Cultivated Land

222,394 km² (8.33%)

- Arable

221,059 km² (8.28%)

- Permanent Crops

1,335 km² (0.05%)

- Irrigated

35,560 km²

- Non cultivated

207 km² (91.67%)

Average Annual Rainfall^D

250 mm

Renewable Water Resources^E

109.6 km³

Water Withdrawals^F	35 km³/yr
- For Agricultural Use	82%
- For Domestic Use	2%
- For Industrial Use	17%
- Per Capita	2,328 m³

Population with safe access to
- Improved Water Source	86%
- Urban population	97%
- Rural population	73%
- Improved Sanitation	72%
- Urban population	87%
- Rural population	52%

References & Remarks

^A UNDP Human Development Report

^B CIA World Factbook and Wikipedia

^C CIA World Factbook Country Profiles

^D Aquastat - FAO's Information System on Water and Agriculture

^E CIA World Factbook

^F Earthtrends

1 News
2 Country Profile: Climate, Geography, Socio-Economic Context
3 Country Profile: Water Bodies and Resources
4 Country Profile: Legal and Institutional Environment
5 Country Profile: Water Sector Coordination
6 Country Profile: Trends in Water Use, Management and Sanitation
7 Country Profile: Challenges and Opportunities
8 Articles
9 Projects and Case Studies
10 Publications
11 Who is Who
12 References
13 See also
14 External Resources

News

Country Profile: Climate, Geography, Socio-Economic Context

Country Profile: Water Bodies and Resources

Deserts and steppes account for more than 80 percent of the total territory of Kazakhstan. Four major hydrologic regions can be found, each distinguished by the final destination of the water: the Arctic Ocean through the Ob River, the Caspian Sea, the Aral Sea and internal lakes, depressions or deserts. Incoming waters (from other countries) account for about one third of the country's total water resources. Given it's importance, several international agreements have been put into effect to govern the allocation of water resources.

The Caspian Sea is the largest lake in the world. In the last decade, it has risen by about 2 metres, which has resulted in waterlogging in towns and villages, and the loss of agricultural land. By contrast, the Aral Sea has receded, mainly due to irrigation development upstream. This has resulted in environmental problems, which have been tentatively addressed by the Central Asia Interstate Commission on Water Coordination.

Of the approximately 100 cubic kilometers of average annual water resources flowing through Kazakhstan, almost one half is generated outside the country and arrives across international boundaries. Kazakhstan is also an upstream riparian, with obligations to ensure suffieicnt flow crossing its border into Russia. Overall water management is therefore a major transboundary issue.

With total water use at approximately 35 cubic kilometers, Kazakhstan is not water scarce as such, but uneven geographical distribution and highly inefficient water use creates water shortages in many regions of the country. The problem is therefore not one of resources, but rather one of management. Water shortages creat a serious threat to health, to sustainable development and to the environmental protection of the country.

Water quality in practically all the water bodies remains unsatisfactory, despite continued decrease in production and volumes of wastewater. Pollution of groundwater is widespread and the provision of high quality drinking water is often problematic. In addition, Kzakhstan is seeing an increase in infectuous diseases as a result of unclean water.Surface water is mainly used for agriculture, while groundwater and desalinated water are mainly used for drinking water. Given the vast deserts that cover Kazakhstan, irrigation forms an important part of agricultural production. Wheat, cotton, rice and potatoes are the major exports crops. Much of the irrigation is inefficient due to water losses and unavailable funds to upgrade the irrigation systems. Over the last half century, intensive development of irrigated agriculture in the Central Asian Region led to the destruction of the Aral Sea, perhaps the greatest environmental disaster in history. Over the last decade considerable international attention has been given to the Aral Sea problem with little measurable success. The Aral Sea is an international problem for which an international solution is necessary. There are now some concerns for Lake Balkash, in the east of Kazakhstan, with the potential for a catastrophe similar to the Aral Sea in the making.

Over 80 percent of households in Kazakhstan have piped water connections in their houses. However, water supply service is weak, both in quantity and quality. Water and wastewater services in the urban centers are provided by water and wastewater enterprises (vodokanals).

In 1993, the central government decentralized the responsibility for the water and wastewater sector to municipalities and phased out operating and capital subsidies to the sector. As a result, all vodokanals are required to be self-financing. In this new environment, they have struggled to cover operations and maintenance costs. Their financial situation is extremely difficult and many of them cannot raise tariffs sufficiently and are able to survive only by delaying payments to their suppliers, particularly the energy suppliers.

Country Profile: Legal and Institutional Environment

UNDP Kazakhstan has extensive experience in water governance and are pioneers globally in terms of Integrated Water Resources Management. The ongoing National Integrated Water Resource Management and Water Efficiency Plan for Kazakhstan is working to improve capacity in water resources management. One of the main initiatives is establishing River Basin Councils to Kazakhstan which are the stakeholder component of the overall water management and decision making picture. River Basin Councils were initially introduced in Kazakhstan in the new Water Code of 2003. The first of eight RBCs has now been successfully established in the Balkash-Alakol River Basin and the remaining seven are scheduled to be in place by the middle of 2006.

From 2002- 2005, no regulator was responsible for setting water tariffs (or managing water resources). Currently (Nov 05), Kazakhstan is in the process of amending the 2003 Water Code and/or the Law on Urban WSS. The management responsibility shall be (left) on the municipal level, while the central government will have a coordination role, overseeing the methodological approach, etc. In Kazakhstan, the avarage tariff for DW is EUR 0.22/M3. The tariffs are set by the National anti-monopoly agency, including a large public hearing process.

Country Profile: Water Sector Coordination

See Sector coordination sub-page for detailed description

Country Profile: Trends in Water Use, Management and Sanitation

The Water Code, adopted on 31 March 1993, provides the framework for the regulation of domestic, industrial and agricultural water use, ensuring the respect of requirements to preserve the environmental. It also opens the way for the introduction of a market economy in irrigated agriculture, since it allows the creation of water-user associations at the inter-farm level and the privatization of the district water organizations.

In recent years, Kazakhstan has become very concerned about water quality. On the international level, the country has been collaborating with the Russian Federation on this issue for the Irtysh, Ishim, Tobol and Ural rivers. Kazakhstan is also working with Azerbaijan, Iran and the Russian Federation on the Caspian Sea waters. Other important international water agreements have been with Kyrgyzstan, namely under the Chu-Tallas River Basin commission.