A water accounting procedure to determine the water savings potential of the Fergana Valley

A. Karimov, D. Molden, T. Khamzina, A. Platonov and Yu. Ivanov

Agricultural Water Management, 2012, vol. 108, issue C, 61-72

Abstract: The Syrdarya River basin in Central Asia exhibits symptoms of scarcity because of growing competition between hydropower upstream and environment, cities and agriculture downstream. Different approaches to water management, based on water savings in agriculture could relieve the stress of competition, yet keep alive a vibrant agriculture. The Fergana Valley, a highly productive area within the upstream of the Syrdarya River, was analyzed to determine the water savings potential of agriculture. This paper used a water accounting procedure to identify both the scope for savings and the strategies to realize those gains. Significant nonproductive depletion of water at 2681–4164millionm3 (Mm3) was identified in the form of evaporation, flows to sinks and pollution. The water-saving potential is estimated at 2823Mm3 annually, which is about 10% of the total inflow into the area, through a range of practical approaches. This strategy would bring regional benefits by reallocation of surplus winter flow from the upstream for summer use in the downstream.

Keywords: Water accounting; Water saving; Water productivity; Groundwater; Conjunctive use; Water banking (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378377411003155
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:agiwat:v:108:y:2012:i:c:p:61-72

DOI: 10.1016/j.agwat.2011.11.010

Access Statistics for this article

Agricultural Water Management is currently edited by B.E. Clothier, W. Dierickx, J. Oster and D. Wichelns

More articles in Agricultural Water Management from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().