Majilis passes draft Water Code
The Majilis of the Kazakh parliament has passed the draft Water Code in the first hearing, Kazinform News Agency correspondent reports.
The updated Water Code introduces for the first time a notion of water security, protecting the population and economy against the risks of water shortage and pollution of water resources.
… this year, the 2030 water resources management system concept and the 2028 water sector development comprehensive plan were approved. The plans include construction of 42 new water reservoirs and reconstruction of 37 existing ones. Nearly 14,500 km of irrigation canals are set to be modernized, said Kazakh minister of water resources and irrigation Nurzhan Nurzhigitov.
The minister highlighted that all this will allow for accumulation and conservation of up to 10 billion cubic meters of water by 2030.
The new Water Code provides for transferring groundwater management functions from other authorized and local executive bodies to the ministry taking into account the re-establishment of the National Hydrogeological Service.
According to Nurzhigitov, the updated Water Code prioritizes protection of water resources from depletion and pollution over the economic need.
This is the key difference between the new Water Code and the current one. In order to prevent waters from depletion, the Code introduces a notion of ecological flow, which is the amount of water needed for conserving river, lake and marine ecological systems and is subject to be left in the environment… The document sets perspective and operational limits of water use on potentially free water flow, said Nurzhigitov.
Under the new Water Code, broader requirements for protection of water bodies are applied, especially in small rivers and lakes. It bans construction of non-overflow dams in small rivers.
One of the key features of the Code is a major reform of the state planning system, while retaining the principle of developing integrated water resource management. The new Code provides for development of a general plan of integrated water resource management and basin plans, set to determine objectives, tasks, approaches and core activities based on projected water resource availability. These documents’ conclusions and recommendations are to be served as an input to documents of the state planning system, said the Kazakh minister.
Among the key elements of the new draft law is implementation of mechanisms to stimulate water saving, which the current Code lacks.
Under the new requirements, permits for water use will be issued only if there are plans for a phased transition (at least five years) to circulating or repeated water supply, added the minister.
To further pursue the water saving policy and stimulate farmers and enterprises to adopt water-saving technologies, the new Code sets grounds both through legislation and concrete practical measures.
In addition, to ensure access to information on water resources of the population a national information report is to be published by the Information-Analytical Center for Water Resources on an annual basis. The document is set to include information on the state, protection and use of water in the country.
