Water is being consumed in excess of the limit in Uzbekistan - the ministry

Irrigation works in Uzbekistan consume 2,486 m3/s of water daily.  This is 16% more than the established limit.  This was announced at the briefing by the head of the press service of the Ministry of Water Resources Shukhrat Suyunov.

According to his report, from 1 April to 10 August of the current year the water intake limit in the capacity of 21 billion 419 million m3 was allocated, however, in practice 22 billion 269 million m3 of water consumed (104%).

There is a daily limit of 2,146 m3/sec. for irrigation work in the Republic, while 2,486 m3/s (116 percent of the limit) is being applied in practice.

In total, 105 thousand hectares of land are irrigated with daily water intake.  Of these, 47 thousand hectares are cotton fields, 24.3 thousand hectares are repeated crops and 33.4 thousand hectares are households and other cultivated areas.

It is noted that today, there is a total of 9.6 billion m3 in the reservoirs of Uzbekistan or 1.5 billion m3 more than last year, and the Tokhtagul reservoir in neighboring countries, which plays an important role in the water supply holds 13.0 billion m3 or 1.1 billion m3 more than last year. The Kairakkum reservoir has 2.2 billion m3 or 304 million m3 more than last year, while water reserves in Nurek reservoir amounts to 10.5 billion m3 or 109 million m3 more than last year.