Socio-economic aspects of environmental monitoring of Uzbekistan's water resources

At the present stage of the development of human civilization, the processes of environmental degradation have become threatening. We are talking about the rapid pollution of atmospheric air in settlements, surface and groundwater, including drinking water sources; about the reduction of the area of fertile land due to desertification, salinization and erosion; about the decrease in the species diversity of the animal and plant world.
Global climate change is making its own adjustments to this process, increasing the negative consequences of ecosystem degradation. Similar trends can be traced everywhere in different regions of the world. Central Asia is no exception. In these conditions, the organization of system monitoring becomes an urgent task.
Environmental monitoring is a systematic monitoring of the state of natural objects for assessment, information support of environmental control and rational use of natural resources, as well as justification of management decisions to prevent negative environmental impacts by forecasting.
The system of state environmental monitoring of the environment in the Republic of Uzbekistan is carried out on the basis of government decisions, which approve the program of state environmental monitoring in the country for a five-year period. The relevant measures are carried out on the basis of the Regulations on Environmental Monitoring in the Republic of Uzbekistan, approved by the resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of September 5, 2019.
At the same time, a system for assessing the degree of pollution of environmental components is important for monitoring. Its main provisions are reflected in the resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers "On further improvement of the environmental pollution assessment system" dated June 3, 2021. 
Under the previous structure of state administration, the Ministries of Health and Water Management, the State Committees for Ecology and Environmental Protection (now the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Republic of Uzbekistan) and Geology and Mineral Resources (now the Ministry of Mining and Geology of the Republic of Uzbekistan), the Cadastre Agency, as well as the Hydrometeorological Service Center were involved in the unified monitoring system (now the Agency of the Hydrometeorological Service under the Ministry of Natural Resources) and others.
In accordance with the state monitoring program, its most important types (along with monitoring the level of radiation background of large cities, atmospheric air pollution and the "contribution" of industrial sectors to it, the state of agricultural lands and the development of hazardous geological processes in mountainous and foothill areas, large sources of pollutants into the atmosphere and discharges into reservoirs) are observations of the level of pollution of transboundary watercourses and surface waters of national importance, as well as the state of pollution of groundwater deposits.
At the same time, monitoring by each responsible ministry and department was carried out in the directions established for them.
Various aspects of monitoring the state of water resources are assigned to the Ministry of Water Management (in terms of the quality of collector and drainage waters for the main reservoirs), the Ministry of Health (sanitary and epidemiological monitoring of drinking water quality), the Ministry of Natural Resources (monitoring of pollution sources and the state of surface water ecosystems), the Ministry of Mining and Geology (monitoring of groundwater pollution), Agency of Hydrometeorological Service under the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Republic of Uzbekistan (monitoring of the level of surface water pollution).
The low-water years in the last period have shown the relevance of improving monitoring not only of the state, but also of water consumption. Monitoring of water consumption begins with monitoring of water consumption at water intake nodes, which requires the provision of special equipment for measuring the volume of water passing through the waterworks, as well as software for data collection, processing and archiving. Such a system, called SKADA (from English - Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition), has been used in Uzbekistan since 2012. In particular, in the Ferghana Valley at waterworks when diverting water from rivers and reservoirs into channels. But this does not solve the problems of monitoring water allocation at the level of farms and dehkan farms. This means that there is a need to improve the monitoring system taking into account this circumstance. There are technical possibilities of such observation in the conditions of the current level of development of infocommunication technologies.
Monitoring of water resources is of particular relevance in the Aral Sea region, which has suffered more than other regions from a decrease in the flow of transboundary waters of the Amu Darya and Syr Darya. A significant decrease in the volume of water entering the lower reaches of rivers, along with an increase in the number of periods of dust storms that raise millions of tons of salt dust from the dried bottom of the Aral Sea, has a noticeable impact on the living conditions of the population and the environment in this zone.
The situation is also aggravated by the delay in the construction of hydraulic infrastructure for the stable supply of water to residual small reservoirs in the delta of the Amu Darya River - Sudochye, Muynak, Rybachye, Dzheltyrbas and others lakes. The completion of the construction of the Mezhdurechensk reservoir would allow the river water to be preserved in a natural depression between the two arms of the river - in the Interfluve, from where it could flow through channels to small lakes.
According to the data received, by December last year, the Mezhdurechenskoye reservoir was filled by a third, which amounted to 150 million cubic meters. This made it possible to supply water to Muynak Bay and Lake Rybachye, as well as to increase its supply to Sudochye through the Ustyurt collector. But this is clearly not enough to maintain the required condition of reservoirs, in particular Sudochy, filled only by 15 percent.  
Even more sad was the fate of the lakes located between Sudoch and Mesopotamia, which dried up due to the fact that water had not been supplied there for the past four years. The cold winter in the period 2022-2023, heavy precipitation and high snow cover of vast territories make noticeable adjustments to the water availability of the country's regions this year. But in order to plan water management measures in the long term, taking into account the noticeable climate change in the region, it is necessary first of all to keep in mind the forecasts of a decrease in the flow of the Amu Darya by 10-15 percent, the Syr Darya by 8-10, as well as plans for taking part of the flow of the Amu Darya by Afghanistan after the completion of the canal in the upper reaches of the transboundary watercourse with all the ensuing consequences.
This poses two tasks for the subjects of state monitoring of water resources.
The first is to improve the system of monitoring the resources of the Amu Darya and irrigation channels both in the middle and lower reaches of the river, from where there is uncontrolled and excessive pumping of water for various needs. If we want to provide water to the settlements, agricultural and industrial facilities of the Aral Sea region, as well as to preserve the small lakes remaining here, objective and systematic data on monitoring the inflow and flow of water in the lower reaches of the Amu Darya are necessary.
The second is the continuation of systematic monitoring of the state of the Aidar-Arnasai lake system, the flow of water from the Southern Mirzachul Canal and collector-drainage waters (about two billion cubic meters were received in 2022), as well as the state of the Syr Darya water resources and the discharge of fresh water from part of its flow to Aidar-Arnasai (in January 2023, more than 530 million cubic meters, while the task is to achieve the discharge of 1.5 billion cubic meters during the year).
The data of such monitoring will become the basis for making management decisions and approving regulatory legal acts that ensure rational and fair regulation of water intake and distribution of water among water users.
At the same time, socio-economic transformations in the country are making their own adjustments to the organization of state environmental monitoring. The ongoing administrative reforms have affected many participants in the environmental monitoring system. There have been significant changes in the structures of ministries and departments.
This makes it necessary to improve the activities of environmental control entities in the new conditions, to improve the coordination of their activities. And as a result - an increase in the effectiveness of environmental control, on which the well-being of the country's residents and the preservation of natural ecosystems depend to a large extent.

Saidrasul Sanginov. 
Leading consultant of the Senate Committee of the Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan on the development of the Aral Sea region and ecology.