Neighboring countries are partially guilty of floods in south Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan Emergency Situations Minister Vladimir Bozhko said that the neighboring countries are partially guilty in the floods in the south of Kazakhstan, Tengrinews.kz. “Why are we facing the floods on the Syrdarya River so frequently lately? That’s because all the hydraulic structures at the territory of Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan was used for watering fields before, but now Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are using the water reservoirs for producing energy. Reservoirs in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan are equipped with energy generators. This year the winter was very cold and the generators were all on, that’s why we had the flows from all the lakes coming to our territory,” he said answering the questions of Senate deputies about the reasons of frequent floods in Kazakhstan. “This problem is still not resolved and when the Syrdarya River is still under ice at our territory, large energy-related discharges come from there and we have to face the floods. Considering good water passage in Syrdarya and water storage in Koksarai reserves, we will solve this problem in the nearest time in south Kazakhstan, both in Kyzylorda and along Syrdarya,” Bozhko said. The Minister said he shared the latest forecasts of the scientists on the disasters. The forecasts were unfavorable. “The latest scientific researches in many countries, including those done by the UN, do not let us rest and say that the floods will decrease. On the contrary, you can notice that the number of floods has increased in the last 3-4 years. This is happening in other countries as well. There is a statement that the number of disasters will grow annually. This requires adequate reaction of the state authorities,” he said. By Renat Tashkinbayev