Subject: Water Quality in Central Asia
From: Saleh Keshawarz (keshawarz@MAIL.HARTFORD.EDU)
Date: Fri Jun 23 2000 - 19:41:28 EDT
Hi Deb,
You have put your finger on the water quality issue in the upstream
countries. The problem gets much worse when you go downstream to
Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. In downstream countries the water quality
problem remains as serious as upstream countries. However, the nature of
the pollutants change from mainly biological (sanitary) to chemical
(from excessive use of
fertilizers and pesticides). As you may have noticed, population centers
in Central Asia are located along the rivers. Irrigation canals and
collectors (canals that collect water after irrigation) are
hydraulically connected to the drinking water well for these population
centers. You can imagine what kind of drinking water quality we are
talking about. Although there have been some work in the water quality
area in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, they are mainly limited to large
cities and no where enough to benefit the people in the rural areas.
Saleh Keshawarz
-- **************************************************M. Saleh Keshawarz, Ph.D., P.E. Chairman And Associate Professor Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering University of Hartford 200 Bloomfield Ave. West Hartford, CT 06117
Phone (860) 768-4032 Fax (860) 768-5073
> Deb4248@aol.com wrote:
> HI, My name is Deb Adelsperger, I am a water and sanitation engineer working > in developing countries and areas of armed conflict for the last 8 years. I > recently participated in an assessment in the Ferghana Valley for an American > NGO. The assessment focused on 4 areas; water and sanitation, economics > (credit), health, and agriculture. This was my first time in Central Asia > and the trip was very fast but very interesting. We participated in 'focus > group' interviews in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Krygzstan although as an > American I was not allowed to go into Krygzstan. (strong recommendation from > the Ambassador). > > What I found most compelling was the clear route of transmission of pathogens > among the countries through both transboundary surface waters and high
> groundwater tables. One mans drinking water was another's waste disposal, > irrigation water, bath water and then yet again another mans drinking water. > In many areas pit latrines are sitting in high groundwater tables and > communities are without the resources to afford concrete lined latrines to > prevent the spread of disease. > > While water quantity is no doubt an issue that will have to be dealt with at > higher levels, it seems to me that sanitation and overall public health > issues, which affect water quality can be tackled at the community level and > have far reaching affects in transboundary water issues. Once I laid out the > communities we looked at on the map it became very clear that a program that > targets cleaning up water quality would go far in healing tensions between > upstream and downstream users. The areas we were in usually found headwaters > in Krgyzstan and then traversing waters between Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. > Why not start at the headwater communities and work downstream with water > quality issues? We were only in the Ferghana Valley for three weeks and we > were not able to do any convening with local authorities, so I am not sure, > but I presume that water quality standards are the same among these > countries. Anybody know? > > There were other very serious problems that communities told us about, but > cleaning up the water quality would help enormously in all areas of peoples > lives. > > Deb Adelsperger > __________________________________ > Deborah Adelsperger > Watershed International > 200 18th Ave NE > St. Petersburg, FLorida 33704 > email: Deb4248@aol.com > phone/fax: 727-502-0519 > mobile 727-510-1192
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