Water resources and water management infrastructure of Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan is the only country in Central Asia whose water resources are almost completely formed on its own territory, and this is its hydrological feature and advantages. The republic has significant water and hydropower resources, and this is one of its main wealth.
The hydropower potential of the rivers is about 174 billion kWh, and the capacity is 19.8 million kW. Huge volumes of water resources are concentrated in 6580 glaciers; whose reserves are about 760 billion cubic meters.
In the hydrological aspect, two regions are distinguished on the territory of Kyrgyzstan - formation and dispersion of flow. The first is the mountainous part of the republic with elevations of more than 2000 m, the area of flow dispersion is located directly below the area of its formation occupying the territory of foothill valleys and intermontane depressions.
In the water balance, the excess of the volume of water resources formed in the country exceeds the volume of their consumption in the territory of the Kyrgyz Republic, therefore they are of interstate importance. The structure of water use in the republic is as follows: about 90% of the water consumption is spent on irrigated agriculture, about 6% - for the needs of industry, less than 3% for water supply of the population. Forestry, fisheries, energy and the services sector collectively use up to 1% of the total domestic water consumption.
The total amount of water consumed in the republic is estimated at 10-12 billion cubic meters per year. Loss of water during conveyance in riverbeds, canals, irrigation structures reaches 1.7-2.3 billion cubic meters. Due to natural (mostly relief) conditions of the republic, small rivers are involved in supplying water to irrigated lands, with about 800 thousand ha or 76% of all irrigated lands which commanded under them. The stock of mountain springs is slightly regulated, only 80 thousand hectares (11%) of lands are irrigated from regulated sources, the remaining 720 thousand hectares are irrigated with live flow.
In the Kyrgyz Republic, there are more than 2000 rivers longer than 10 km long, and their total length is almost 35 thousand km. Great importance in the development and functioning of the national economic complex, the increase of water and energy resources, the protection of the environment, the formation of an effective water balance have lakes, reservoirs and ponds. A significant amount of water is concentrated in lakes, small ponds, reservoirs. Their total area is 6836 square km. Predominantly the lakes are located in the high-mountain zone - 3-4 thousand meters above sea level.
On the balance sheet of the Department of Water Resources and Land Improvement there is a state irrigation fund, which is an off-farm irrigation fund that consists of off-farm canals with a length of 5786.7 km, hydraulic structures - 7659 units, hydroposts - 3236 units, pump stations - 111 units, collector-drainage networks 1187.1 km, reservoirs -33 units with a total capacity of 1617.3 million m3, night storage reservoirs (NSR) - 50 units, decade storage reservoirs (DSR) - 10 units.
