Water management tool designed under the Zarafshon Integrated Basin Project will be implemented across every river basin in Tajikistan

Name: Landell Mills
Price range: $

News 11.09.19 Tajikistan Environment, water, climate change and disaster risk reduction

Landell Mills has arranged training workshops to assist SyrDarya, Kofarnihon, Pyanj and Vakhsh river basins in Tajikistan with setting up a water management tool called a River Basin Schematic. The Zarafshon Basin Schematic was designed and successfully implemented in 2017 under the Zarafshon Integrated Basin Project (ZIBP) which is managed by Landell Mills and funded by the EU.

2019 version of the Zarafshon Basin Schematic (photos by Andreas de Jong)

To date, the Zarafshon Working Group, established under ZIBP, and in collaboration with Landell Mills' consultants, has held training workshops for 20 people in the towns of Norak and Ayni with representatives from the four river basins.

The Ministry of Energy and Water Resources' recommendation to implement the Zarafshon Basin Schematic tool in SyrDarya, Kofarnihon, Pyanj and Vakhsh river basins was issued at the Coordination Meeting of the Working Group on Implementation of the Water Sector Reform Programme of Tajikistan for 2016-2025.

The water management tool shows how the Zarafshon Basin system works. It provides water users and other stakeholders with information on where the water is coming from, where it is going, who is using it, who is polluting it and where it is being monitored. The schematic has become the main tool to identify data gaps, plan fieldwork, design the water balance model and prioritise canals for water allocation in the basin. It also helps to reduce potential conflicts among water users who compete for water.

ZIBP aims to build the capacity of integrated water resources management in Tajikistan and specifically the Zarafshon Basin. The project began in September 2016 and will finish in June 2020.