As a result, the original course of the canal has shifted, as the water washed away the banks and flooded huge areas, forming lakes. Meteorological factors, such as sand drift induced by wind, were not taken into account during construction. The northern canal was built in the same way. The channel was laid directly into the sand without any cladding, meaning most of the water disappeared into the sand. The first stage of the project involved building 800 km of canals across the desert to carry the collected drainage waters of the Lebap, Mary and Ahal districts towards Karashor. Today, we have gathered here to become witnesses and participants in a truly historic event – the launch of the first stage of a unique site of the third millennium, an unprecedented hydrological structure – the Turkmen Lake ‘Altyn Asyr’.” Disastrous consequences “A blessed time has come to the Turkmen land, where the most daring plans are made into a reality, where the most grandiose and large-scale projects come to life. Current President Berdimuhamedov’s enthusiastic speech to mark the completion of the first stage of the project in July 2009 was reminiscent of Soviet general secretaries at Party Congresses: ![]() The official narrative is one of three decades of unprecedented success and victories. These changes have had a negative effect on the country’s development and the population’s living standards. Finally, in 2019 the State Committee for Water Management of Turkmenistan was formed. In 2016, these ministries were again merged into the Ministry of Agriculture and Water Management. In 2000, water workers were again separated when a Ministry of Water Management was created. The Ministry of Land Reclamation and Water Management formed in 1992 was abolished and merged with the Ministry of Agriculture in 1998. There has been endless reshuffling of ministers and their deputies, and indeed of the ministries themselves, since independence. As a result, the yield and quality of cotton and wheat has dropped significantly. New agricultural land was created without collector and drainage networks. A new irrigation network was built, which increased water losses in general. Wheat was grown as well as cotton, the main agricultural crop, with the state arguing this was needed for self-sufficiency in food. ![]() Agricultural areas continued to expand without considering available water resources. ![]() The newly independent country was managed without a proper development strategy. ![]() Only drainage water from agricultural fields, with residues of pesticides and fertilizers, flows in. Yet apologists for the project don’t seem embarrassed by the fact that the same fate awaits the Golden Age Lake.Įxperts who criticised the project were met with the common refrain of “Are you against the party?” and “The decision has already been made at the highest level.” Poor water governanceīut high-level decisions on water in Turkmenistan have often been illogical. Since the 1960s, water from the Amu Darya river has ceased to flow into the lake. Lake Sarygamysh, the country’s largest natural inland lake, has reached critical levels of salinity – up to 16 grams of salt per cubic metre. This is many times more than is accumulated in all of the country’s water reservoirs, including Sarygamysh.”
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