By Lily Nemirovsky ‘24
Staff Writer
I am currently living in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, where taps in some parts of the city have been inconsistently shut on and off by the city government for over two weeks. Throughout my time here I have become well aware of the water crisis in Central Asia, especially in Western Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, where the infamous Aral Sea is a mere puddle of what it used to be, as noted by The Diplomat. From my own experience looking out the window of an eight-hour train ride between two of Uzbekistan's ancient cities and observing an endless expanse of soaked cotton fields amidst a desert-like landscape, it made sense that the region is already grappling with rapid water depletion and is expected to experience water deficits of 25-30 percent within the next 20 years, according to World Bank predictions. However, given that Kyrgyzstan is characterized as water-rich, thanks to the glaciers formed by its mountainous terrain, I was not expecting a water shortage to hit the capital for quite some time, and certainly not this summer.
At the beginning of June, the Bishkek city government shut off taps in the southern districts, leaving some residents entirely without running water. Soon after, a restricted schedule was released and posted by the local news outlet Kaktus Media (Кактус Медия) which announced four-hour windows of water flow a day. The post quickly filled with frustrated comments from residents blaming officials for corruption and poor management, and suggesting officials turn off the water in their own districts. Kaktus Media reported that, within a couple of weeks, a group of protestors gathered to block one of the main highways running through the city. The police forced them to disperse, referencing Article 279 of the Kyrgyz criminal code regarding “unlawful road blockages.”
There are a few contributing factors to the sudden water shortage. In a press conference with Sputnik Kyrgyzstan, the vice mayor of Bishkek attributed the shortage to excessive water consumption by residents in private homes, whose use of drinking water to water their gardens and yards contributes to a more than three-fold increase in water consumption during the warmer months of the year, as well as to unusually cool days in May, which delayed glacier melt and thus thinned out the rivers feeding into reservoirs. Other sources, such as phys.org, point to a drop in the water table, which is 50-65 feet lower than last year. Bishkek experienced a similar — but less severe — issue last summer and received warnings about such an occurrence repeating as early as February of this year.
To address the issue, the city government drilled six new wells and launched a small public awareness campaign urging residents to save water via practices such as turning the sink off while brushing teeth, reported News.kg. To incentivize more mindful consumption, the price of water will be increased by 2.35 soms ($0.027) per cubic meter starting this month, according to Sputnik. Additionally, Kaktus Media announced that car washes, banyas and swimming pools were temporarily closed.
After three record-hot days in a row, reported Kaktus Media, the irrigation channels running through the city are once again filled with flowing water, and taps have been turned back on*. The trees lining the roads are still flush, and the countless park lawns are covered with brilliantly green grass.
While the situation may feel like somewhat of a blip, a deep repository of reports about climate change’s current and future effects suggests otherwise. Bishkek is joined by dozens of cities around the world that have already begun suffering water shortages, along with many more threatened by impending crises, reported Nature Communications.
In the short-term, scientific papers such as Pritchard 2019 warn that Kyrgyzstan’s water flow is expected to increase as climbing temperatures accelerate glacier melting. Once that ice runs out, Kyrgyzstan will face an unprecedented lack of surface water. The repercussions of this are not only humanitarian but political as well. With Uzbekistan reliant on water inflow from neighboring Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, the relations between these countries may become more precarious, according to Climate Diplomacy. Competition over natural resources has led to multiple violent conflicts in border regions over the past thirty years, and Uzbekistan has repeatedly attempted to thwart funding for water-conservation projects such as dams, which would reduce downstream flow into Uzbekistan, reported Reuters.
The direction Central Asian countries head in will be heavily influenced by the United States, EU, China and — perhaps less so now — Russia, not only due to their enormous greenhouse gas emissions but also because of their hand in managing Central Asian affairs. Each party is competing for economic and political leverage in the region, evident through their investment projects, leadership conferences and ubiquitous cultural advertising. With the worrisome security implications of regional instability, all have reason to work on keeping the water flowing.