Mudflow protection facilities to be installed at Almaty rivers

Two mudflow protection facilities will be installed in the mountain areas of Almaty oblast, Tengrinews.kz reports citing Yuriy Ilyin, head of Department of Mobilization Training, Prevention and Elimination of Emergency Situations in Kazakhstan as saying at the scheduled inspection of moraine-dammed lake No.6 in the mountains near Almaty. Mud and rock flows threat is high during summer in Almaty when glaciers in nearby mountains are melting melting heavily. Ilyin told that Almaty administration is going to install mudflow protection facilities at the Bedelbai and Batareika Rivers. The construction is expected to finish in 2013. These preventive measures are especially important sin the most recent destructive mudflow happened at Bedelbai river in 1999. Ilyin pointed out that the situation at lake No.6 did not impose any threat to Almaty. He added that under the existing conditions the mudflow could only be provoked by a strong earthquake, but for that case there were two dams in the foothills near the city. The first one, Mynzhylki, is able to hold up to 300 thousand cubic meters of water. The dam in Medeu gorge will still stand under pressure of up to 12 million cubic meters of water. “It is important to take glacier melting dynamics into consideration in future when speaking about preserving the water balance that we have in the mountains right now, so that our future generations can have the access to fresh water, that will become a deficit with time,” Ilyin added. Kazselezaschita (mudflow protection service) monitors lake No.6 every year from May to September. They check on the lake every day. The lake has a special channel to discharge excessive water. The lake will also get a siphon installed by the end of the year. It will regulate the water level. Chief engineer of Kazselezaschita Issan Kokhambayev told that the discharge channel was going to be enlarged. Right now the water level remains low in the lake and it is still 50 cm below the channel entrance. The lake holds the total of 139 thousand cubic meters of water. There was 1.5 times more water in lake No.6 in 2010. Earlier the research scientist of KazHydroMet weather service Boris Stepanov told that Almaty and its suburbs entered the period of high mudflow activity. The scientist believes that the region will be regularly threatened by mudflows in the nearest decades. The risk area includes Almaty city, Talgar, Issyk, Kaskelen and other villages at the foot of Zailiyskiy Alatau mountains. However, the personnel of Kazselezaschita and Almaty Emergency Situations Department consider Stepanov’s forecasts groundless. By Dmitriy Khegai