Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

Demand for water resources will increase significantly in Kazakhstan by 2040, Environment and Water Resources Minister said on December 24.

Water demand will reach 25 billion cubic meters per year, Nurlan Kapparov said.

"The demand for water, or water consumption, in Kazakhstan will increase from the current 16 billion cubic meters to 25 billion cubic meters a year by 2040, growing by 56 percent," the minister said.

Speaking at a government meeting, Kapparov said the forecast is calculated on the basis of the country's population growth to 20.8 million over the reported period.

Growth in water consumption in the industrial sector will be about 35 percent, which corresponds to the growth in industrial production by four percent per year. The greatest growth in water consumption will be observed in the extraction and processing of oil and gas, mining, and electricity production, he noted.

Kazakhstan's agriculture also plans to expand the areas of regular irrigation to 2.1 million hectares by 2040, which will consequently lead to an increase in water consumption by 1.6 percent annually.

The minister also spoke about measures that Kazakhstan will take to manage water resources, saying the volume of investments in the state program for water resource management amounts to 3.2 trillion tenges.

"The state program offers a number of steps to reduce the expected deficit of water, 9.5 billion cubic meters of which can be covered by modernizing the infrastructure and taking measures to improve water conservation in industry, agriculture, housing and communal services," the minister said.

Kapparov said a total of 3.6 trillion tenges is planned to be invested in water supply and removal in the housing and communal services.

"The housing and communal services sector will be the most capital intensive," Kapparov noted. "When it comes to solving the water shortage problem, the use of 'green' water-saving technology in agriculture and modernizing the irrigation systems will cover about 43 percent of the expected water deficit of 12.2 billion cubic meters."

Water shortage can also be reduced by modernizing the infrastructure facilities used for transporting, distributing and storing water, upgrading the municipal infrastructure, using water saving technology in the industry, and having an inter-basin transfer of water resources to solve local problems related to water supply, he said.

Kapparov said groundwater resources can also be a significant water source, but additional geological exploration works are required for the full estimation of their potential.