Eurasian River Basin Portal

26.07.2018

July 14, 2018, Mary city, Turkmenistan. The Regional Environmental Centre for Central Asia (CAREC) together with the Executive Committee of the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea (EC IFAS) has organized the first meeting of the basin council for the Murgab River. The meeting was conducted in the frames of the Smart Waters project implementation with the financial support from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

Note: The Murgab River flows through the territory of Afghanistan and Turkmenistan. Murgab is the second largest river in Turkmenistan with an average annual runoff of about 1 billion m3 per year, which is 6.5% of total water consumption in the country. The total length of the river is 978 km, of which 530 km flows through the territory of Turkmenistan. The source of the river is in Afghanistan. Water is mainly used for irrigation. The population of the Turkmen part of the basin is 126 thousand people.

Despite the fact that the river is cross-border, the Smart Waters project works on it only at the national level in Turkmenistan.

This meeting was the first in Turkmenistan to implement the forth component of the Smart Waters project, which implies the introduction of basin planning principles on small watersheds in Central Asia.

The basis for the implementation of this component in Turkmenistan is the Water Code of the country, a new version of which came into force in 2016, and for the first time the principles of integrated water resources management, including basin management, were outlined there.

This meeting gathered more than 40 participants, including representatives of the Mejlis (Parliament) of the country, representatives of relevant ministries and agencies, EC IFAS and local stakeholders. The participants heard the basic information about the project, its components and forthcoming work in the basin. During the meeting, working schedule and the composition of the Small Basin Council (SBC) of the were determined, which, as agreed by the parties, included 26 organizations. The head of the Department for the Improvement and Introduction of Modern Methods of Agriculture of the Khayakimlik of the Mary Velayat was appointed as Chairman of the Council. The next meeting of the Council is scheduled for October 2018.

Participants noted the need for the establishment of such a council, the relevance of the issues discussed, as well as the need to exchange views on various issues related to water management.

It also should be noted that this basin council is the first water management body in Turkmenistan, established on the basis of the hydrographic (basin) principle.